The McCarty Family

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

2012-01-27T14:05:00.000-05:00

So last week I showed you this picture of how Ruth Ann was behaving while I was trying to get a photo of her for her Valentine's Day cards...

I was able to get a really cute picture of her, despite the terrible behavior and came home to make this...(I store photos off sight with Flickr, so I used their editing software to add the text)

And then ordered 20 copies through Shutterfly, also associated with Flickr, which arrived this week and I finished assembling Ruth Ann's Valentine's Day cards for her friends at school...I usually order all my pictures from Mpix, but I couldn't figure out how to save the edit version of my picture back to my computer and it was just easier to order through Shutterfly rather than waste time figuring my computer out. Now that I have the pictures in hand I should have not left my text so close to the edge of the photo. Although nothing was cut off, part of the "y" in Day was nearly removed from the picture.
Here is the result...

So CUTE! And I wish I could take full credit for this idea, but my creative friend Sally who has a gift for finding even more creative ideas on the internet found this idea and forwarded to me a few weeks ago. Although it took a little prep work, like taking a good picture & then adding the text, the assembly was very quick and easy...I highly recommend it. I've had friends make home made Valentine's and they spend hours cutting, pasting, adding candy, etc...this was so easy!

And one other note, the picture I used was actually taken AFTER the meltdown pictured above...proof as to how unpredictable & fast the tides of drama can change when you have a 3 year old little girl. You never know what the drama will arrive and you can never guess how long it will last...I'm sure my husband feels the same way about the Ruth Ann's momma too!

Gap, why are you failing me??

2012-01-25T08:25:00.000-05:00

I'm a long time shopper of The Gap. I remember when it first opened in Columbia, how I begged my mom for my first pair of over priced Gap jeans, and how I loved those jeans and wanted to wear them every day. The Gap never let me down when I needed cute new school clothes or in college if I needed a little treat for myself...but somewhere in the last 10 years The Gap has taken a turn for the worse. Because I've also enjoyed Banana Republic in the past...another store I also feel is starting to fail me...I have had a Luxe Banana Republic card for many years and with that I often get great coupons from it's sister store, The Gap. I usually use these coupons and any rewards I get back from my Luxe card on my kids pjs at Gap Kids because I can never find anything for myself that I'm even remotely interested in. Today I have a 35% off coupon and I have some reward dollars so I headed over to The Gap website to see what I could find...this is what I stumbled upon...

Seriously??!! If you're reading this and thinking "Gosh, I've been searching for a denim one piece jumpsuit for ages!"...then I'm sorry, you and I just can't be friends. I don't know what is going on at The Gap...I'm not sure how I would react if I saw someone wearing this is real life or if I ever showed up wearing this to work...I think they might send me home for a "mental health day" because clearly I would be out of my mind to be wearing this! I miss The Gap from 15 years ago...does that make me old?

A few of my little boy favorites

2012-01-24T21:54:00.000-05:00

When I was pregnant with Ruth Ann and found out she was a little girl my mind began to race with thoughts of smocked dresses, monograms and all things pink. When I found out Tripp was a baby boy initially I didn't have the same experience...but as time went by there were a few boy things I started looking forward to...

Red Keds...LOVE them!! Tripp may be wearing these until I can no longer find his size or he starts buying shoes for himself...which ever comes first!

Smocked Jon-Jon's or Long Alls...I'm also a big fan of one piece bubble and that was basically what Tripp was in last summer if he wasn't in a onsie, but this summer will be the summer of the Jon-Jon. Love them, can't get enough of them and I don't care if other people think they're for babies because this little boy is MY little baby and I'll dress him like this until he asks me to stop...or I go blind from smocking & sewing them, again, which ever come first!

I found this pattern when I first start picture smocking before Ruth Ann was born. I had always wanted to buy it and when I found out Tripp was on his way it was one of the first boy patterns I bought. I think he'll have a pair of Long Alls every year with this pattern.

Although I may not have had the same long list of tangible things to look forward to, I had something much more special to look forward to experiencing. Once I started telling others I was having a boy I started hearing from other mothers of baby boys (who also had a daughter) what a different kind of love I could look forward to feeling for my baby boy. Although Ruth Ann and I will always share a special and unique bond as mother and daughter, I was told what I would feel for Tripp would be a whole different kind of love...not stronger, just different. When they handed me that sweet boy I knew in that second everyone had been right. This week another blogger wrote about her feelings after having her baby boy recently and she describes it perfectly...visit The Storywood.

I just ask that when you see Tripp when he is 10 years old that you not laugh at my sweet boy wearing his red keds and smocked jon-jon...know that it's all his momma's fault!

ARGHHHH

2012-01-20T13:04:00.002-05:00

Sorry, I couldn't think of a better way to title this post because today both of my sweet precious children who I love dearly are driving me out of my mind...does anyone else have those days?? I know my mom did because I vividly remember threats to be sent to the Gypsies if I didn't straighten up...leaving me with a life time fear of traveling Gypsies and the movie "Babes in Toy Land" starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello scared the bejesus out of me. However, had a band of Gypsies knock on my door today they may have had 2 new recruits...or maybe I would have just left with them myself!

Anyway, my friend Sally sent me a really cute idea for Valentine cards for Ruth Ann's classmates and I needed to get started. They will require a picture of Ruth Ann, sounds easy enough right...wrong...here's how Ruth Ann and I both felt about each other this morning as I was trying to take this picture...

Of course only the 3 year old can respond like this...

It's considered socially unacceptable for a 33 year old to behave this way...but I was real close to doing the exact same thing!

We've got a climber on our hands...

2012-01-18T15:35:00.000-05:00

For Tripp's 1st birthday we got him a toy table that will eventually live in his bed room. I had planned on getting the tracks & roads that go on top too...but that ended up exceeding the budget so that will be a gift for another day. Anyway, right now Tripp's room doesn't have enough room in it for the table since my gigantic rocker/recliner...which every nursery needs...is still in there. I had thought about getting rid of it but last night Tripp let me rock him...which is very rare...so it's staying for as long as that sweet boy will snuggle with me! So for now, the table is in the corner of our living room. Ruth Ann has been using it as a puzzle table and last night Tripp used her chair as a means to do a little climbing...Arch and I had our backs to him...all of a sudden Arch turned around and this is what he found...

And now guess who can't stay off the top of table?? We had to tell Ruth Ann she can't leave her chairs near the table...as this was how he was getting up on the table...wonder how long Ruth Ann will follow those directions...don't give her too much credit...I fully expect to find my baby boy on top of this table on a regular basis. Maybe it's easy to play with your cars on trucks when you're on top rather than standing next to the table...Tripp seems to think so...

It's also really cute to watch him try to throw his little short leg up on the table when he doesn't have the chair assisting him. I'm told by my mom that I was climber before I was a walker and Arch has the scars to prove he was the same way...we were bound to have a climber at some point!

Oldies

2012-01-15T20:11:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when I'm looking back through my saved pictures on Flickr I almost want to burst into tears...time is going too quickly and looking back at Ruth Ann and one of our sweet friends, Betsy, it makes that fact much more obvious...

Here is a stroll down Ruth Ann and Betsy Lane...

Oh these girls are about as sweet...and sassy...as they come!

Same smile

2012-01-15T19:33:00.000-05:00

Tripp now has 4 little teeth...my babies are both slow to get their teeth...and they both have a very similiar smile...

Hello gappy baby smile...this is one momma that has missed seeing you!

Taking care of our teeth

2012-01-11T22:46:00.001-05:00

Last summer I decided it was time for Ruth Ann to visit the dentist. She wasn't having any problems but I have a friend who had already taken her daughter several times so I felt like I was kinda behind in the area of dental hygiene...don't get me wrong, we brush 2x per day, but it was time for a professional cleaning. On that visit I forgot my camera...but for her 2nd visit I packed the camera bag...

She did a great job...

And since Tripp-man now has 4 little teeth popping through...it's time to start taking care of his teeth too...

He did just as well when I brushed his little teeth too!

A Set Up...

2012-01-11T21:00:00.001-05:00

I know I'm setting myself for some serious tears down the road...but I couldn't help but take a picture of this sweet boy tonight...

One day I'll be saying "I remember when you couldn't even touch the pedals..."

And then I'll cry my eyes out...

Santa 2010

2012-01-11T13:59:00.000-05:00

Yeah, you're reading that title correctly, it's not a mistake...let me explain...

Last year on the Thursday before Christmas we decided as a family to go see Santa at what is the crummiest mall in town...but they have the BEST Santa and your pictures are taken by a photographer. We stood in line for over an hour...because this is the price you pay for waiting until Christmas Eve Eve to get in to see the Big Guy. I don't buy the prints, I like to buy the cd so I can save the pictures forever and post them to places like this blog. As I paid they told me the cd would be ready the following week. This mall is downtown and not far from one of the offices I work in, but I was going to be off the following week so I told them it would be after the 1st of the year (2011) before I could pick them up during my lunch break...does anyone remember how I spent New Year's Day 2011???

Since Tripp made is arrival a little early and then I was on maternity leave for the next 8 weeks I just could not remember to go by the studio in the mall to pick up my pictures...so when we went for our Santa 2011 pictures I also went home with my cd from the year before...

I miss this baby girl...has anyone seen where she went??

post signature

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-09T16:45:00.001-05:00

So our biggest New Year's event was obviously celebrating Tripp's birthday...but we also had a some friends over for some traditional New Year's festivities...

It also happened to be the night of the Auburn bowl game...and since Carolina was still a few days away from playing I thought it was perfectly appropriate for everyone to be dressed in Auburn gear...

Thanks to the Brown's we had some sparklers and thanks to a gift to Spencer from Aunt Toni 3 years ago we had some firework fun too...

And then I asked all the sparkler handlers to get together for a quick picture...which the kids happily gathered for but the adults have a look of fear because of all the fireworks in such close proximity to each other...

Then we rushed inside to watch the ball drop, give out kisses and then sing to Tripp-man...

Happy New Year! 2011 was one of my favorite years yet...since it started off with the birth of my baby boy...2012 has big shoes to fill!

New Year's Baby

2012-01-01T23:03:00.000-05:00

When you're a New Year's Baby in the South, here's how you celebrate your first birthday...

With a traditional New Year's supper...collard greens, black eyed peas and ribs...

With a side of corn bread...

And then you follow it with some birthday cake...Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting...

And then you wash it all down with some whole milk...you can see he has quickly mastered the sippy cup...

Happy Birthday to you...

2012-01-01T20:22:00.001-05:00

At 12 am we rang in the new year and sang "Happy Birthday" to Tripp-man...

His face tells you how he felt about being woken up at 12am to our musical styling of Happy Birthday...

Then we left him alone and went back to sleep...maybe he thought it was all just a dream...

Then he woke up bright and early to begin his big day...

But this is how I always want to remember him...pacie in mouth, baby in hand, and a smile on his face...

Oh my, I'm so sad to see this baby boy getting older!

Then Grammy and Papaw brought the birthday boy his present...

Big sister had a hard time today and although you may not be able to tell in the picture, she was crying hysterically because she wanted to get in the fire truck too...

But he didn't let that bring him down...

Happy Birthday sweet boy...all day long I've been reliving this same day 1 year ago. Those early days were long and seemed to last forever...but somewhere along the way the days began to move at a much quicker pace and before I knew it your 1st birthday is here! You may not always be a baby, but you're ALWAYS going to be my baby boy! I love you sweet boy and can't wait to see what the next year holds for you!

One year ago...

2011-12-31T22:44:00.002-05:00

One year ago tonight I went to bed 37 weeks and 6 days pregnant. For months I had planned on working up until my due date (Jan. 16th)...but for some reason I went to bed that night with a feeling of dread. I'm strep B positive...for those who don't know what this means, I have to have an antibiotic administered via IV 4 hours prior to delivery. For most moms-to-be, 4 hours prior to delivery sounds like plenty of time...but not to rub this in anyone's face...I deliver much faster than that. With Ruth Ann, I was induced, so they started my antibiotic the night before at 11pm, then I was induced at 7:30am and I was at 10cm (ie...ready to get the show on the road) by 10am. Because of how quickly my first delivery went I had a little fear deep inside that delivery #2 would go even more quickly and I wouldn't have time for my antibiotic to be administered...and of course I had researched all the terrible things that could happen.

On December 31, 2010, I went to bed and slept very little because little did anyone know that at 5:13pm the next day we would be meeting the newest McCarty...

My 2nd Born

2011-12-29T21:57:00.001-05:00

It's a good thing I'm positive Tripp-man is my very last baby because I fear if I had a 3rd he or she would be forced to raise themselves...or DSS may remove them from my custody due to neglect.

Mom's of multiple children may understand this...or maybe I'm incredibly neglectful...but I feel like my 2nd born rarely, if ever, has my undivided attention. As his 1st birthday rapidly approaches the following things have crossed my mind...

~During Ruth Ann's 1st year I read the weekly updates from Baby Center to keep track of each and every little thing Ruth Ann should be doing...although I did sign up for Tripp's weekly updates, I don't think I've read even one of them.

~Ruth Ann took to eating very well...she ate cereal well and Stage 1 & 2 foods well, but we skipped Stage 3 foods and went straight to table foods several months before she turned 1. As Tripp's 1st birthday crept closer I started to remember we took Ruth Ann to dinner at Chick-fil-a for her first birthday dinner, and as of December 1st, I hadn't even tried feeding Tripp table food! He's been eating Stage 3 foods so well (and it's so much easier & cleaner for me to feed him) that I had not even started to think that it's time for him to start feeding himself.

And sippy cups???

Is it any wonder why he's looking at it like it's a foreign object?? Perhaps because he has never wrapped his chubby hands around one??

Thank goodness God makes these little creatures resilient...and Tripp is basically fending for himself...or he's a genius...

Or he's just 100% McCarty and we McCarty's all find a way to feed ourselves...because clearly not one of us looks as if we've let a meal be missed!

This little fellow has had hugs and kisses a plenty...but I think a part of me wants him to stay a baby for as long as possible and I guess I thought the longer I treated him like a baby the longer he would stay that way...but I can't fight what's going to happen on Sunday morning...those emails I've been ignoring from Baby Center telling me what my "baby" should be doing will now turn to what my "toddler" should be doing...and I'm going to spend as much time as possible between now and then crying and rocking my baby boy!

Birthday Take 1, 2 & 3

2011-12-21T21:07:00.000-05:00

When I was in college one of my best friends, Amanda (Ray) Newman, introduced me to the idea of celebrating your "Golden Year". Amanda defined your golden year is the year you turn the age of the date you were born on...for example, my birthday is the 21st, so my golden year would have been the year I turned 21. Amanda's Golden Year was the year of her 19th birthday and this was in October of our freshman year. Her mom sent her a small gift every day until her birthday...I loved this idea...unfortunately for Ruth Ann she was born on the 1st of the month so the idea of a Golden Year won't mean much to her.

As a variation of the Golden Year celebration, Ruth Ann got to celebrate her 3rd birthday 3 times...

First on her actual birthday...at Disney...what a lucky duck!

And here she is rubbing it in everyone else's face...

Then when we got home her daddy had a birthday cake waiting on us...but we waited until the next day to light it up and sing Happy Birthday...

And finally, she got to celebrate with her friends at school the next week...I brought treats for Ruth Ann's class and since she goes to a church pre-school they pray before eating their snack...this picture warms my heart...

Then they sat down to snack...

And like many McCarty's before her, she was one of the last to get up from the table...

Then the whole class sat around Ruth Ann while she opened a gift...

And I also got a picture of Ruth Ann with her favorite friend from school...Jack. After Ruth Ann's parent/teach conference I learned Ruth Ann likes to play with the boys, and Jack is her favorite boy...her daddy is going to have his hands full!

And just so I can cry a little bit more about my baby girl turning one more year older, we'll take a walk down memory lane...here she is bright and early on all 3 of her birthdays...

1st Birthday...

2nd Birthday...

3rd Birthday...

The day before my mom had treated both Ruth Ann and Ada to a visit to the Bippti Boppiti Boutique for their birhtday gifts...this little princess fell asleep on the way back to the room (after 13 hours of Disney excitement) and stayed asleep as I got her ready for bed...she doesn't usually wear the crown jewels to bed and if you had witnessed the amount of product they used to keep her hair in that bun atop her head you wouldn't be surprised at all to see it still in a nice neat bun after 10 hours of sleep.

And even though the child celebrated on 3 different occasions and it has been 3 weeks since her birthday...she continues to tell me everyday it's her birthday. We're trying to distract her with Christmas...but I have a feeling she's going to be super sad the day after Christmas when she realizes her birthday is 11 months away!

Bad Words

2011-12-20T20:45:00.000-05:00

For those who know me in real life or if you've been reading my blog for a while you may already know this about me...I'm a proud Auburn Tiger. And not just because we are the defending National Champions in football...and I love those Tigers even though we went from 1st to Worst this year. I fell in love with Auburn when I went on my college tour in 1995 and never looked back.

I decided once I had children that I would begin to ~~brainwash~~ teach them to love Auburn too...

Ruth Ann's first campus tour...Spring 2009

Dressed super cute for her first football season as an Auburn Tiger...I miss those rolls in her thighs!

Ruth Ann's first tailgate/football weekend...Fall 2009

And I'm doing the same with Tripp too...

Gameday clothing...Fall 2011

Tripp's first campus tour...Fall 2011

For those who also know me in real life you also know that saying "bad words" is not something I have a problem with. We've kept our language clean around here even before little ears were around. However, a few weeks ago we watched "Roll Tide/War Eagle" on ESPN and when Ruth Ann repeated "Roll Tide" I promptly told her those were BAD WORDS! Since learning this her little ears have been on guard against "bad words".

Example #1: While I was driving a few weeks ago I was trying to merge right while the car in front of me (with a giant Alabama sticker on their back window) was trying to merge left. The car stopped short and I nearly clipped the back of the car. Out loud, I said "Come on, go Alabama." to which Ruth Ann promptly said "Momma, don't say that, those are bad words. We say go Auburn Tigers."

Example #2: We're listening to Christmas music in the car...because I LOVE Christmas music and could really enjoy it all year long. In one song Ruth Ann heard "Yuletide"...she said "Mommy, they said a bad word. They said Roll Tide."

Clearly I need to be watching everything I say and do because this little girl is on the look out. Of course, currently her list of "bad words" is basically limited to anything related to the University of Alabama!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-17T21:32:00.001-05:00

Ever since Arch and I got married we have been having both of our parents over to our house for Thanksgiving. My mom is a pharmacist in a long term acute care facility and there are only 2 pharmacists for their patients. She usually worked Thanksgiving and the other pharmacist worked Christmas...this year the plan changed so my mom offered to have Thanksgiving at her house. I only got a few pictures because I was too excited about taking a little break from my diet to even worry with taking pictures.

I did get a few of Tripp enjoying his first Thanksgiving feast...although he still prefers to be fed rather than to feed himself...

Then we went outside for a little while before heading home...

Ruth Ann had fun throwing leaves...and at my parents house there is no shortage of leaves...

Then Ruth Ann and her daddy took off on a four wheeler ride...no matter how much I dress this girl in a smocked dress or appliqued clothes with matching bows...there's a strong streak of country girl running through her that I just don't think I'm going to be able to win the battle against...

While they were gone I got a few pictures of Tripp...

I'm always behind the camera taking pictures so I'm trying to make an effort to take more pictures with my children so one day they'll know what I looked like too!

I also got a great picture of Tripp with Arch's parents...Arch's mom rarely smiles for pictures so I was THRILLED with these pictures...even though I wish Tripp was in a little bit better of a mood...

I think this sweet boy just brings out the smiles in all of us!

Once the four wheeling daddy and daughter returned I got a picture of me with both of my babies...

And the trauma from the day that took 5 years off my life resulted in this...

My mom and I were in the kitchen and smelled something burning. The cranberries were overflowing and burning on the bottom of the oven. I took out the hot dish and of course there was no where on the stove to put the hot dish. My mom was looking for a place to set the dish down...all the while the oven was wide open and Tripp crawled up to the open door. The next thing I knew Tripp put his little chubby hand on the open door and he started crying...but he wouldn't pick his hand up off the door. My first thought was of course the worse case scenario...he's melted his hand to the oven door. I screamed for someone to take the dish from me and Spencer thankfully came to my rescue. I snatched Tripp up and ran cool water over his hand while he was whimpering...it was awful...but in 5 minutes he was fine and back to his usual self. I thought we were going to avoid a blister...but it was looking like the picture above before we left my parents. But it didn't slow his crawling down at all, so clearly I was more traumatized by the event than he was. Mothers of boys can sympathize with the mis-adventures of little boys...at this rate I'm going to be completely gray headed by the time I'm 35!

Where does the time go??

2011-12-17T15:19:00.001-05:00

When I was kid the time between my birthday, Christmas and Summer seemed like FOREVER...now time is flying by in a complete blur. In the last 3 weeks I've easily taken over 1000 pictures...Thanksgiving, Disney, birthday's, etc...and I have finally weeded through and loaded most of them so I promise I'll be posting frequently in the next few days...

The time that's on my mind right now is the time that is most precious to me & I feel like it is slipping through my fingers...it's time with my sweet babies. On December 1st Ruth Ann turned 3 years old...I'm still in denial. And on January 1st Tripp will turn 1...also, in denial. Between the stress of the holidays and both of my babies having birthdays not only do I feel like the days are flying by...but I'm also on the verge of tears at the annual reminder that my babies are growing up too quickly!

I feel like I was just living this day...

I remember checking into the hospital the night before and that terrible night of sleep I got before Ruth Ann's big day. I feel like I was just handed my sweet little girl for the first time and then I blink and this is the baby girl I'm holding now almost at the exact the same moment 3 years later...

(Ruth Ann was born at 10:38 am and it wasn't until I sat down to write this post that I realized this picture was taken at 10:31 am on her birthday)

I was warned before hand that having a 3 year old may be the most challenging of all ages...and so far that's been VERY true! But there are lots of fun things about this age too. It sounds strange to say...but Ruth Ann is like a little person now. She chats with me, she has irrational arguments with me (that's one of the things that makes you want to pull your hair out when dealing with a 3 year old), she has her own interesting thoughts and ideas that she likes to share, she tells me all about her day and her friends when I pick her up from school or from her grandparents and she's FUNNY...I laugh at the things she says all the time. She's my willing side kick a lot of days while Tripp stays home with Daddy and I love looking in the rear view mirror and seeing her happy to be Mommy's tag-a-long. I wanted to be a mommy for as long as I can remember...for me it was never a question of "If" I wanted children, it's always been "When" I have children. This sweet girl made me a mommy after a very long wait and there are no words to say just how grateful I am that God granted me the privilege to be her Momma.

These days are going too fast and I'm often left wondering where the time is going...but even though I feel like these days are going quickly...however, thanks to a 3 year old attitude, some days feel like they last an eternity...everyday just gets sweeter and sweeter and I look forward to more and more birthday's spent with this little girl!

Ruth Ann

2011-12-06T09:01:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is the last post with Ruth Ann's personalized clothing. Getting all these clothes out and looking at them again has been a little sad...compounded by the fact that Tripp will turn one in a month making this the last month I have a "baby" in my house...and there will be no more babies in our house, so no one go making that suggestion to me.

I also realized exactly why I kinda thought it was a good idea to name my second child, had he been a girl, something with the same monogram. They were both winter babies born in the same season so the timing was perfect...however, God saw it fit to bless me with a baby boy...and what a blessing he has been! Also, after making outfits for both my neice and Ruth Ann to wear while we were at Disney I realized I don't like making the same thing twice...especially when it comes to smocking. It's okay for special occasions, but I could not have done it for every outfit. It's more fun for me to make coordinating bother/sister outfits instead.

Anyway, only one person had some interest in "Ruth Ann" clothes, so they're yours for the picking...

1
$5, 18mths, Smitten & Company, personalized T's from Etsy

2
$5, 2T, Monag shirt I appliqued, I have some matching pants I'll have to find that go with this top

3
$5, 2, Monag shirt

4
$10, 2T, Lolly Wolly Doodle, there is a small hole in the back of the pants that I've mended

5
$5, 2, Smitten & Company

6
$5, 2, Smitten & Company

7
$5, 2 Smitten & Company (I also have the shirt in a size 4 that Ruth Ann is wearing now...I originally ordered the 4, but it was too big for her last year...you may not be planning on your Ruth Ann being a big sister any time soon...but I thought I would include it!)

8
$5, 2T, Gap tshirt

The rest are all free...

9
24mths, Target shirt

10
24mths, Target shirt

rMa

2011-12-04T20:51:00.000-05:00

1
$5, 18mths, white cotten knit dress, purchased online

2
$5, 24 mths, blue green cotton knit dress, purchased online

3
$5, 24mths

4
$5, 18mths

5
$5, 24mths

6
$10, 2T, purchased from Lolly Wolly Doodle

7
$10, 18mths, Royal Kidz, purchased at a local clothing store

8
$10, 18mths, Mommy & Me, purchased locally

9
$10, 18mths, Mommy & Me, given as a gift

10
$10, 18mths, Royal Kidz

11
$10, 18mths, Chez Ami

12
$10, 6mths, Royal Kidz

13
$10, 6mths, Rosalina

14
$10, 6mths, Claire and Charlie

15
$10, 6mths, Claire and Charlie

16
$10, 18mths, Royal Kidz

17
$10, 9mth, Chez Ami

18
$10, 3mths, Claire & Charlie, corduroy

19
$10, 9mths, Claire & Charlie

20
$10, 18mths, Rosalina...maybe the cutest thing I've ever put on my daughter

21
$5, 24mths, Boojue, purchased from a local craft market

22
$10, 2, Chez Ami

23
$10, 18mths, Chez Ami

24
$10, 2, Chez Ami

25
$10, 2, Chez Ami

The following are free...

26
2T, Target shirt

27
24mths, Faded Glory (Walmart shirt)

28
2T, Target shirt w/navy skort

29
3T, Carter's

"R"

2011-12-04T14:25:00.002-05:00

**The only item left on this post is #2**

I had several people interested in mostly my girl stuff...so instead of sending a massive email out to each who contacted me I'm going to post all the "R" things on this post and then have two other posts with the "rMa" items and then "Ruth Ann" items. I don't have a whole lot of things personalized for Tripp...second child & he's a little fellow, so he doesn't get as many things monogrammed...yet...I'm sure he'll have lots of personalized polos in his future!

I'll try to list a description of each and the price. Some things I'll be giving away, I'll just ask that you pay for shipping. I've used paypal for purchasing, but never for selling...I'm hoping it will be easy to set up my account for sells and that will be how I will except payment. In the comment section of this post list the number and description of the item you want and your email address used for Paypal...first come, first serve...I'll email you to let you know if you got it along with the Paypal request for payment.

Okay, here we go...

1
$10
Size 2, purchased from Lolly Wolly Doodle.

2
$10
Size 18mths, Mary James, purchased at a local clothing store

3
$5
Size 18mths, Smitten & Company custom t-shirt, Etsy

4
$5
Size 2, Smitten & Company custom t-shirt, Etsy

These things are all free + the cost of shipping...

5
24mths, Minnie shirt, Target t-shirt

6
24 mths, Scalloped flower, Target t-shirt

7
2T, Teal scalloped R, Target shirt with matching shorts (I made these shorts

There is a small stain on the shoulder

8
2T, Green plaid scalloped, Target t-shirt with matching shorts (I made the shorts)

9
24mths, Santa belt, Target t-shirt

Monogram sale

2011-12-03T20:57:00.000-05:00

Kelly's Korner...look for the link to her blog in the right hand column...is hosting a monogram hunt for those mommas like myself who like to monogram.

For those checking me out via Kelly's Korner, I own a monograming machine so I have lots of personalized clothing for my children. It would take me hours to photograph and post all the pics, but if you're here and interested in what I have, leave a comment with your contact info and I'll email you pictures. I use mostly high quality shirts and buy boutique clothing that I'm selling. I do have shirts from target that I've personalized that I'll be willing to give away. Here's the initials I have...

3mths-2T girls "R"' "Ruth Ann", rMa
3 mths-12mths boys "T", "Tripp", aMb

post signature

You decide...

2011-11-19T18:59:00.001-05:00

Since the day Ruth Ann was born all I ever hear is how much she looks like her daddy. Apparently the ladies at her pre-school questioned whether or not she was my biological child until the morning Arch dropped her off and they all said "Oh, you're who she looks like." I held out hope that Tripp would perhaps display some of my traits...and prove my gene pool could actually dominate against the very strong McCarty genes. In the weeks after Tripp was born I thought I had succeeded. Tripp looked so much like my dad and brother that I thought finally I had a child who people would say looked just like his momma....but, as Tripp gets older I hear more and more how much he looks like his sister, therefore, he must also be looking like his daddy too. So unfair...I did all the hard work...and still am since I'm still trying to drop the weight from being pregnant with Tripp.

When Ruth Ann was 6 months old I ordered a portrait of her to match one Arch had of Spencer at roughly the same age. I just got Tripp's picture back from being framed so I thought it would be interesting to take a picture of all three together...you decide...do they all look alike. For those who don't know my step-son he is 16 (he will be 17 this week) and is identical to his father. Ruth Ann and Spencer do favor each other...but I think Tripp looks different from the other two. I also think he has my eyes and other members of my family think he looks like my mom's side of the family. To support this arguement, I have a 2nd cousin (my mom and her dad are 1st cousins) who had a baby boy 1 day before I delivered Tripp. There are times when she posts pictures of her little boy and he looks so much like Tripp. She agrees and thinks we have twin cousins...therefore, I'm claiming Tripp as a baby who looks like me and my family...but you decide...

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2011-11-18T16:31:00.001-05:00

This past week I sat down at my sewing machine and found this...

I had no idea what in the world it was...and if you can't tell by the picture, then let me describe it for you...it's a small piece of corduroy fabric with about 7 straight pins holding it together in a very odd fashion. I have ~~yelled~~ calmly talked with Ruth Ann at great length about keeping her hands off of my sewing table...but the sewing room is also the playroom. This is very convient with I want to sew and keep an eye on the children...it's very inconvient when Ruth Ann finds herself alone in the playroom and the sewing table lures her over with all it's shiney and pointy objects.

It may look like a gigantic mess to most...but I know where everything is...kinda. As much as it angers me that Ruth Ann continues to disobey me and plays with things off of my sewing table at the same time it reminds me why I wanted to start sewing in the first place. I grew up watching my mom sew for me...she didn't have a sewing room, so she had to get her machine out and then put it away when she was finished...but I remember wanting to cut with her sissors and play with her things too. I'm hopeful that one day Ruth Ann will remember these days of watching me sew for her and decide to do the same for her children too...but until then, hands off momma's table!

Party in the front....

2011-11-07T19:19:00.001-05:00

...business in the back. My sweet boy has what I've been referring to as a "reverse mullet"...

Front:

Back:

I'm not sure why his hair has grown out this way...but I long for the days of being able to pull hair out of my infants face with an outfit coordinating hair bow...clearly not acceptable for a little boy. I'm not quite ready for the official first hair cut, so I took matters into my own hands, got I got out my hair shears and went to work to just give it a tiny trim...

He looks a little unsure about it but my goal was to make it still look like baby hair...just out of his eyes & to avoid my baby looking like his father may actually be Lloyd Christmas from "Dumb & Dumber". I think I achieved my goal...we'll be going to a pro for our next hair cut...this is another job I feel should best be left to those well trained in their field!

Thankful...

2011-11-06T21:04:00.000-05:00

During the past week I've had lots of friends posting daily on Facebook...and some even going above and beyond and posting daily on their blogs...about what they're thankful for. I love the idea, but I also know I run hot and cold on posting both on the blog and on Facebook. But the thought of participating had crossed my mind...then Saturday morning I walked in the kitchen and this is what I found...

My sweet children and husband (who may have the worst bed head of anyone on the planet) making pancakes. In the first picture I have some of the things I'm most thankful for...my husband, my children, Saturday mornings in PJs and carbohydrates! The last of which I have often times found myself being too thankful for and can thank for the extra weight I'm currently ~~starving~~ dieting to try to loss.

And by the looks of the way this baby boy enjoyed his first pancake I'd say we have another carb lover amongst us...

10 Months Old

2011-11-05T15:13:00.001-04:00

Guess who just keeps getting older and older...no matter how many times I tell him to stop...

And just when I think it can't get any harder to get his regularly scheduled monthly picture...it does. This month it was particularly difficult to get him to smile and show his shirt at the same time...hence the very serious series of pictures for this month. I'll have to get the shirt and camera back out when Arch is here to help me get him to smile and keep him in one place...it's just too much for this momma to handle at one time!

Tripp is pulling up on everything...and now he's cruising too. I keep thinking he's going to let go and start walking any day...but I kinda think he'll be cruising for quite a while.

He continues to babble is his little blond head off...and I'm pleased to say "Mama" is one of his favorite words these days.

He's still eating stage 3 foods so well that I haven't tried giving him any table food...but he did have his first pancake this morning so I have a feeling we'll be eating more and more table food this month. Although he is still drinking formula, I think I may have bought my last cans of formula...when these run out we're switching to whole milk. But at the rate groceries keep going up it may actually be less expensive to keep him on formula!

Still no teeth...he's been "teething" for months and I've yet to see any sign of teeth. I think Ruth Ann was 11 mths old before she got her first tooth and it looks like Tripp-man is following in her footsteps!

I can barely believe we are closing in on Tripp's first birthday. This time last year we were at Disney and I was 7 months pregnant...in so many ways I feel like it was just yesterday and now suddenly I have this very cute, active, precious beyond words 10 month old baby boy right before my eyes! I love you sweet boy...but seriously, stop getting older!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T15:26:00.000-04:00

Last year we celebrated Halloween at Disney and Ruth Ann kinda got an idea of trick or treating as we walked from shop to shop in Downtown Disney...but this year I planned on trick or treating the old fashioned way. We don't live in a neighborhood that trick or treats...but several of my friends do, so we hit their neighborhoods with them.

I probably should have warned them that in my day I was a marathon trick or treater and this habit was fully supported by mom...also a fan of trick or treating...she would let me & my brother go around our neighborhood and then drive us to other local neighborhoods...always following us closely from the car. We decided to start off our night in the Brown's neighborhood with some of our fun friends...

Police man Jay looks like he just had a long night on the night shift...his dad straightened him up and I noticed a little something extra in his gun holster...

These sweet girls had a fun time together and in an effort to stay in costume...Betsy referred to Ruth Ann as "Dorothy" all night...

It's a little known fact that Dorothy loved shopping at Bloomingdale's!

Finally the last pictures were taken...

And we were off...

Since it was still a little day light outside when we finished with the Brown's we headed over to the Clark's who live in a very large and very popular trick or treating neighborhood. The Brown's hung in for about another 30 minutes and the Betsy had her fill. Brantley, her cousin Sydney and I kept going with Ruth Ann and Mason....both of their siblings were home sick and missed out on the action this year. We made it back to the Clark's and as Ruth Ann and I were leaving the neighborhood a little part of me wanted to park, unload her and hit a few more houses...I just can't give up the trick or treating bug. Ruth Ann probably would have been up for it too because she seems to have inherited my love for it...her strategy was to hang out at the bowl longer than all the other kids and that usually scored her an extra piece of candy...or two.

We got back home and surveyed the loot...

Not bad at all. Too bad I'm on South Beach and I can't enjoy any of her delicious treats...I have a feeling her big brother will be making a big dent in her stash this week!

The Brown's Annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza

2011-11-04T12:05:00.000-04:00

It's been a few weeks since I posted last...life has been busy so now I'm getting ready to blow your blogging socks off with potentially multiple posts today...we'll start where life left off with my last post...

If the McCarty family is anything...we're competitive...sometimes to a fault. On a pretty regular basis Ruth Ann announces she is racing me to her room, to the bathroom, to the living....etc, etc. If you know me & my husband personally you're not the least bit surprised to hear we have produced an uber competitive child. There's one competition our whole family looks forward to every year and that's the Brown's pumpkin carving competition...but first we always head to a local church to pick the perfect pumpkin...

I love all the pumpkins lined up in nice rows and this always makes for a great photo op...

Here are my little residents of OZ...

I've basically given up trying to get a picture where both my children are looking at the camera...especially when we're in public, so here's one good one of Ruth Ann...and then one good one of Tripp...

I also wanted to get a cute picture of Tripp crawling down an isle...but he wasn't interested, so this is the best I could get...you know how I love those sweet lips...

And while I was doing this...Ruth Ann was in the car doing this with the stickers she got from the pumpkin patch...

Now let me say this...this wasn't my first rodeo at pumpkin carving...even though Sally has lots of stencils available for carving...I brought my own this year and I upped my bling factor this year...

But the competition was steep because there was some serious pumpkin carving going on...

You may have noticed kids for the most part are noticeably absent since all the adults were seriously concentrating on their pumpkins. Spencer is always a hit at the Brown's party and I'm not sure what we'll do in 2 years when he's off at college and no longer wants to hang out with us at the Brown's party...

You may also have noticed that the kids are all dressed up in their Halloween costumes...Sally use to have a competition for adult costumes, but over time most of the adults have stopped dressing up so there was no competition this year. And Sally never has a competition for the kids...she gives them all a treat for being there...but had there been a competition...this sweet girl may have taken home the grand prize...

But these two sweet girls looked pretty cute themselves...

And this was the best picture I could get of my little lion on the prowl...

Thanks again Sally for a fun time! Can't wait until next year!

A Love/Hate Relationship

2011-10-19T11:00:00.000-04:00

For as long as I can remember I've had a love/hate relationship with running. I love how runners look when they are mid-run, looking healthy & strong...and runners always have the best legs...I would love to look this way. However...I HATE running. I tried a few years ago to participate in a 5K training class. I faithfully showed up for class and did all the required running...until I found out I was pregnant with Ruth Ann and I immediately dropped out. I know research says I could have kept up with the running...but I'll be honest and say pregnancy was the only excuse I needed to drop out and drop out fast. But now that I'm finished with having babies I want to get in shape and try to stay there. So for my birthday I asked Arch to take me to Fleet Feet to get a new pair of "running shoes"...or "walking with the hope of one day running shoes" in my case...saying it my way probably would take up too much room on the outside of the box and they might not sell as well either.

Besides just wanting to get in better shape, in 6 weeks and 5 days my mom, Toni, Ada, Ruth Ann and I are headed to the Happiest Place on Earth...Disney World. About a year and a half ago my mom planned a Christmas Disney trip for all the girls for the same week we're going this year...but in May we got the exciting news that Tripp-man was on his way...making me 8 months pregnant for the trip. Clearly enough time had passed between my 2 pregnancies that I thought nothing of the idea of going for a week to Disney 8 months pregnant...the hormones either clouded my memory or had me feeling like Super Woman...either way, my mom had the good sense to re-arrange our plans for a Halloween trip for 2010 and we postponed the Christmas trip until 2011. Before anyone plans a trip to Disney they should be warned that you will not be "resting" or "relaxing" while you're at Disney...especially if you're taking children...and if those same children like to be held throughout the parks. Last year we...the adults...left exhausted and all agreed we needed to start a Disney Training program to prepare for our next trip. So far my mom has lost 50 lbs since last year and I guess I've technically lost 30 lbs since I'm no longer pregnant...but the key to being in shape for Disney is doing a lot of walking to built up your endurance before you go...this is where I've fallen behind and my mom is WAY ahead of me. She has a fabulous tread mill at her house keeping her on track...but now that I have my new shoes I thought since we don't live far from the dam I would go walk there last Sunday...this is leading to a 2nd title for this blog post "The Day I Nearly Died Walking Across the Dam". For those from my hometown you know the walkway I'm talking about. For those from outside of my hometown, we have an "earthen dam" that was the largest in the country when it was completed in the 1930's...I'm not sure where it ranks now. They reinforced it a few years ago and added a walking path connecting the two sides and is a great walk...3.4 mile from one end to the other and then back again. I set out pushing 50 lbs. of children and 20 lbs. of stroller...midway I thought I was going to die...and then I realized I had to walk back. I was thankful I had brought my cell phone along because I came close to calling Arch to come pick me up. I also came very close to asking a complete stranger to push my stroller for me as I was about to pass out. I called my mom when I finally made it to the car and told her I'm not even close to being in shape for Disney...my goal is to kick up my Disney training in the next 6 weeks...we'll see how that goes!

A million and one pictures

2011-10-17T19:38:00.002-04:00

So by now, those who know me personally or don't know me at all may have noticed I like to take a few pictures of kids. This weekend was unseasonably warm so I grabbed the chance to take a few pictures of my kids in some of their warm weather Auburn clothes that we may never be able to wear again. Once more I'm reminded of how difficult it can be to get 2 kids, 2 years old and 9 months, to look at the camera. I also don't know how my photographer does it and am convinced I would turn to alcohol or prescribed drugs if I had to do this for a living. However, this morning I had a well behaved 4 year old in the booth testing her hearing and she was doing just fine. It's not uncommon for a 4 year old to need some repeat instruction or some positive reinforcement to get through a complete hearing test, but I could tell the mother was concerned about whether or not this sweet girl was behaving herself. I reassured her mother she was doing just fine and then told her if I ever had to test my own children I would be beating down the glass window demanding they pay attention...clearly, mom's don't always have the same level of patience with there own children as professionals do!

Anyway...I usually take about a million pictures of my kids...most of which get deleted because they look like this...

or this...

And now matter how many times I ask the 2 year old...who in my opinion is completely capable of simply looking in the direction of her mother...I get this...

Which isn't really all her fault because it must be a genetic flaw she just can't fight. I give you exhibit A:

But if I'm anything, I'm persistant when it comes to getting a picture...even if all my neighbors may or may not have heard me yell/threaten my children to just look at the camera! And sometimes that persistance pays off with some sweet moments...

These two can be little boogers sometimes...but they're my little boogers and I love them more and more every day!

And for my Auburn friends out there...I made Tripp's outfit and he wore it approximately 1 time thanks to a cool Saturdays and me procrastinating when it came to putting the buttons & button holes on the is outfit. It's a size 12 months (but Tripp is comfortably wearing it at 9 1/2 months) and up borrowing to the next Auburn Momma to have a baby boy!

Out with the old...in with the moo...

2011-10-16T21:11:00.000-04:00

There are lots of daily reminders that my sweet baby boy is growing up way too fast for my liking. At Tripp's last doctors visit he weighed just under 22 lbs. and since the weight capacity on his infant seat is 22 lbs. and his feet have been dangling out of the end the infant seat for a while so I thought it was time to change out the seats...

So, out with the old...

And in with the MOO...

I live on the edge when it comes to car seat installation...since I have 6 years of higher education under my belt I figure I can install a car seat all on my own...no fire station for this momma! Britax car seats are also super easy to install so I felt confident in my ability to get it in the car safely. This is the same model car seat that Ruth Ann has but they've updated it and it does look a little different...and secretly that bothers me a little. But I'm not going out to buy another seat for Ruth Ann when hers is perfectly fine...I need to just get use to it. When I told Ruth Ann I had to put Tripp's new seat in the car she asked if his seat was a flower seat too...nope, couldn't do that to my baby boy. She was jealous of the cow pattern for a few minutes, but she'll just have to get use to it too!

The things I'm going to miss

2011-10-16T11:05:00.003-04:00

I use to never dread the change of seasons...that all changed when I had children and now new seasons mean new clothes. Not that I'm opposed to shopping for new clothes...I'm opposed to the impact it has on my pocket-book. But almost as much as I hate buying new clothes, I also hate knowing that I'll never see my sweet children in the outfits I've grown to love...here's one of my faves...

It's by Matilda Jane...and to say I LOVE Matilda Jane is an understatement! I was invited to my first home show party a year and half ago. I had never heard of this brand before so I checked them out online to see what they had to offer. Looking online I didn't really think it was my style and kinda thought about not going to the party at all...but I'm so glad I gave it a chance! In person it's hard not to fall in love with everything you see. This has been one of my favorite outfits and I love that we have gotten nearly 2 years of wear out of it...the prices may be higher than what you usually pay for kids clothes, but most everything can be used for more than one season...which is worth the cost for me.

From the very first time I dressed Ruth Ann in a Matilda Jane outfit I knew that one day if my fabulous friend Amanda ever had a baby girl this is how she would dress her. I called her shortly after this party and told her I was going to start saving all my Matilda Jane for her in the hopes she would one day have a little girl...I knew she would love and appreciate it...and now Amanda is due to have a little girl in December. I can't wait to see how cute her sweet baby girl will look in these clothes!

You can browse what Matilda Jane has of offer at http://www.matildajaneclothing.com/ You can't always order online...they periodically open the website up of online orders, but usually you have to order through one of their trunk keepers. If you live in the Columbia area leave me a comment with your email and I'll be happy to put you in touch with the trunk keeper I use here in town.

Dressing baby boys in the South

2011-10-16T10:36:00.001-04:00

When I found out 3 years ago that I was expecting a baby girl I had no doubt in my mind how I would be dressing her. I knew her closet would be filled with smocked dresses, dresses with big white collars, a-line dress, lots of monograms and bows in a variety of sizes & colors. Basically, dressing little girls in the South is easy and LOTS of fun!

When I found out a year ago I was having a baby boy my world was rocked by a lot of silly and unimportant things...but rocked none the less. How was going to dress this little boy? When I first started shopping for newborn clothes it was completely boring...everything I found for baby boys was blue...and although I love light blue (it's one of the best colors for both my kids to wear)...a closet full of blue eventually looks BORING! As Tripp has grown I've started making more and more of his clothes. My sewing teacher will admit that she much prefers sewing for girls rather than boys and with each student who tells her she's expecting a baby we all know she starts hoping for a baby girl...but she made the comment the other night that I've really embraced sewing for boys. I realized that boy projects are all I've really been working on for months. I've found I love sewing & smocking for Tripp just as much as I ever did for Ruth Ann.

It took me a few months, but I've come to the opinion that dressing boys in the South can be just as much fun as dressing little girls...but to dress boys correctly and be a good Southern Momma you must embrace and appreciate the following...

Jon-Jon's...or Long-alls

Smocking...

and Camo...

All of which Tripp looks precious in and all of which should be staples in any good Southern little boy's closet. I had some opinions about the length of time little boys should wear smocking/jon-jon's/long-alls before I had a little boy...all those rules flew right out the window once I saw how cute my chubby little boy looks when he's dressed in them...he'll be wearing them until I can no longer find a pattern in his size!

Dad's Night

2011-10-14T16:20:00.000-04:00

Last night was Dad's Night at Ruth Ann's pre-school...here is my favorite Daddy/Daughter pair before they left for their big night...

(for anyone wondering who Ruth Ann looks more like...the answer is right in front of your face. For moms who have children who look like you...please tell me what that feels like...neither of mine seem to have inherited any of my looks...which is 100% unfair since I was the one pregnant for 9 months and Tripp should be my little twin considering how terrible labor was with him!)

After they left the school he took her to Yummilious...which is her fave so I know he was trying to make the night extra special for her. When they got home I asked all about the night...because part of me was a little jealous they have Dad's Night in October, but Mom's Night is not until January. I try not to be a "helicopter mom" but I really want to know all about how Ruth Ann is behaving/playing/participating/etc. while she's at school. I thought they would be in their own classrooms doing activities with their teachers...but I was wrong. They served Chick-fil-a and then went into different classrooms for different activities. Arch complained the lines were too long to do all the stations and he thought even at Ruth Ann's age...and she's in one of the youngest classes at this school...the activities were too simple. Then about 15 minutes later he turned to me and said "You know what, Ruth Ann really does not like to wait in line." Seriously...where do you think she inherited that??? I reminded him of what he had just said 15 minutes prior to which he had no response. They both had fun and Ruth Ann went to sleep asking if tomorrow could be Dad's Night too...I think Daddy/Daughter dates are going to have become a regular activity at our house!

Hair Care

2011-10-14T12:08:00.000-04:00

Ruth Ann gets lots of compliments on her hair and I've said before that I prayed for many months that she would have the same good hair her daddy and her older both have. Well, she got it and came into the world with a head full of blond hair...the blond part was a complete shock to me since I had black hair when I was born. Anyway, as much as I love that I've always been able to put a bow in that full head of hair...it's a mixed blessing...as a baby it was a chore having to keep food out of her hair but now styling an active toddler's hair is one of the most stressful chores of my whole day! Her hair seems to constantly be getting thicker and thicker. Each time I can finally get all of her hair out of her face...more starts growing in and for months she looks like she has thin bangs. I've been able to french braid since my own childhood, but I've been trying to master a tiny french braid across her forehead to get all those little hairs out of her face...today we did it...

But I think I must have said "keep your head still", "look straight ahead" and "stop moving your body" a hundred times before it was all over. In the ENT practice where I work we see a large pediatric population and when I see a black mother come in with an 18 month old little girl with lots of perfect little braids in her hair I'm in complete awe. How in the world do they do this?? After 2 years of taking care of Ruth Ann's hair I'm convinced the black mothers of America are sitting on a well kept secret as to how to get their daughters to behave and sit still for hair styling. A secret by the way that white mothers would probably pay a small fortune for it were ever to be shared in print! I read an article about a mother who adopted a little girl from Africa and learned all about styling her hair because she knew that in their culture this was a bonding time for mother & daughters and she wanted to share that sweet time with her daughter...believe me when I say there is no bonding going on when I'm trying to put my wiggly little 2 year old's hair up in a pony tail. I'm pretty sure she'll have no sweet memories of the time we've shared fixing her hair in the morning. I'm reminded of a summer when I was 4 years old...we went to the beach with my grandparents and I'm told I would not allow my mom to put my very long hair up in a pony tail all week. This resulted in a head full of tangles and I'm sure lots of tears on my part. My mom vowed to cut it all off when we returned home...and she was a woman true to her word. I went from having lovely long hair to the popular at that time, Dorothy Hamil cut. This is example 483 of how I sympathize with the decisions my mom made as a mother of 2 small children and am convinced I'm just going to keep reliving my own childhood through my mother's eyes!

What's with the tears???

2011-10-13T13:37:00.000-04:00

I guess only a mother thinks their babies are cute even when they're crying. Do you think his sister just pinched him...nope. Do you think his sister just took his very favorite toy out of his chubby little hands...no, wrong again. This is how Tripp reacts each and every time he's finished eating...which may make you wonder if I'm feeding him enough. Rest assure...I am. Here is his regular lunch...

At Tripp's 9 month check up he was 21.6 lbs...putting him in the 80th percentile for weight...clearly he's well fed! I love that our doctors office has all his vitals for weight listed on the same page. At birth, Tripp was 6 lbs, 6 oz...putting him in the less than 10th percentile. On one and it's amazing to see how much he's grown...on the other, when you consider how much both his parents love eating, it's no surprise to see him following in our footsteps!

9 months

2011-10-10T14:48:00.000-04:00

...and a few days. I promise I love this baby boy from here to the moon and back...but sometimes I don't love to blog promptly.

I can't believe this little guy has hit the 9 month mark. Having a baby turn 9 months old is a milestone for me because he is now the same age out of my belly as it took for him to grow inside my belly...and that's just crazy for me to think about. If you've ever been pregnant, you know those 9 months seem to move at a snail's pace...but in a lot of ways I feel like I was just coming home with this new baby boy and now he's 9 months old!

Here's what Tripp-man is up to...
~can you tell by the color of his orange nose that he LOVES orange veggies? I can get him to eat the green ones...but apparently I'm the only one. Both his grandparents and his daddy claim he doesn't eat anything green for them. In person the orange is not so obvious...but in pictures it really stands out.
~he's not just a crawler anymore...now he's pulling up...and pulling everything off of any low lying surface in sight! Ruth Ann was 14 months old before she started walking and I fulling expected the same from my second child...but I think he wants to keep up with the crowd so he seems to be ahead of Ruth Ann when it comes to motor skills...although I think that's pretty normal between girls vs. boys. He has also increased his crawl speed...he's a little motor man now. He follows me from room begging to be held...which is cute and sweet for about 5 minutes and then I've had enough when I'm trying to keep up with the house work, 2 little ones and working. His favorite moments are when all of his family members are in the same room together...but if one of leaves the room he begins crying and tries to crawl after you. Again, very sweet...but you grow tired of the crying quickly...I promise.
~still babbling away. He currently loves the cats...and so far they're loving him right back. We're lucky to have 2 really friendly cats. Lacie will rub up against him over and over when the mood strikes her...we call it "hugging" in our house. Because of all the love our cats are showing him he seems to be trying to say "kitty", which is a new addition to his vocab. I've tried letting him watch Baby Signing Time, but he doesn't seem as interested in it as Ruth Ann was. We'll keep trying...there really isn't anything cuter than watching a little one use sign language.
~along with being a power crawler this little guy has fallen in deep love with all kinds of balls...he'll chase one around the living room, into the kitchen and back...

~he's also a drooling machine...I keep thinking teeth are going to pop through those little gums any day...but so far we haven't seen any.

~and just when I think he can't possibly get any cuter...he looks up at me and he's cuter than ever...

Back on the Train...

2011-09-27T15:15:00.001-04:00

...the potty train. Before reading, be advised the words "poop", "potty" and "panties" are used frequently throughout this post. If you are offended or grossed out by any of these words you should stop reading now...but if you're a parent I'm sure you're numb to the use of these words!

18 months ago Ruth Ann started showing interest in potty training (that's when the picture above was taken), so 18 months ago I bought a little potty, little panties and we set out on the road to potty training. 18 months ago I sat on top of my VERY high horse and proclaimed I would NEVER put my child in Pull-ups and deemed them "over rated diapers". 18 months later and rivers of tears later (rivers filled with tears belonging to both myself and Ruth Ann) I have spent countless dollars on Pull-ups, new undies and shouted "JUST POOP ALREADY!" more than I ever thought humanly possible...another shining example of how humbling parenting can be...humbling to the point it brings you to your knees in defeat.

As I type the following words I'm knocking on wood, crossing my fingers...whatever it takes in the hopes that I don't jinx myself...since last Thursday afternoon when I picked Ruth Ann up from pre-school she has been wearing wear big girl panties (except when sleeping...don't judge unless you've potty trained) and she's been CLEAN & DRY! Now when she goes to my in-laws tomorrow and back to school next week she'll be back in a pull-up...I'm not ready to send her into the world without a pull-up just yet but we have gone out of the house on several occasions this weekend and she's managed to either use the potty where ever we were or she was able to make it home...success is very near my friends **I began typing this post on Sunday, it's now Tuesday...let me modify this to read she was dry all day Monday while with her grandparents, who rewarded her with a shiny quarter, but she pooped in her undies both yesterday and today...I'm still counting dry undies as a serious improvement!**

Along my 18 month journey I've sought out and received a lot of advice on the subject of potty training...and if you're reading this and you've potty trained a human being you've probably heard all the same advice. What I offer you now is not to be perceived as advice...but rather comfort for those who are fighting, have fought or will one day fight this battle...

1. Pull-ups aren't so bad...they're expensive, but sometimes necessary...so don't judge! I vowed I wouldn't use them and I probably judged those who had...because before you have kids you think you know EVERYTHING about what you should be doing to raise children correctly...another humbling moment. If I had the luxury of being a stay at home mom I probably would not have used them at all. But since I work 3 days a week and have family keeping my children I didn't want to burden them with the chore of changing dirty panties...if given the choice of changing a dirty pull-up vs. dirty undies...I'll take the pull-up please. Over time Ruth Ann developed a very expensive pull-up habit and I realized I was buying a box of pull-ups nearly once a week...which meant I had to go to Target once a week and once I'm in Target I always need just a few more things & oh the dollars I started adding up in my head...that was when I realized I had to get serious about potty training & fast! I just couldn't afford the $100 cover charge to Target any longer!

2. Every child is different...I know I heard people say this once or hundred times...but it's really true and until you start potty training I don't think there is any way of knowing whether your child will be easy or hard to potty train. I've had friends who practically potty trained they're kids over night...and I HATED hearing their success stories...happy for them, but seriously jealous that I would no longer see them in the diaper isle at the local Target. Ruth Ann is strong willed...with a capital "S". I already see a little leader emerging and one day this strong will is going to take her a long way...and help afford the best nursing care possible for her dear sweet parents...but in childhood her strong will is often times in direct opposition with the plans of her equally strong willed mother...I'm big enough to admit that I know exactly where that strong will came from. I've learned just because they may show interest does not mean it's going to happen over night...for some it might, but I'm here to say I tried IT ALL!! I used rewards...first candy because we usually don't keep sweets in the house, but that didn't make an impact...then I had toys displayed on the back of the potty for months as a reward for going the whole day with clean undies...after being taunted for months by those barbies, which to me were proof of my continuing failure, I took them to the beach on our family beach trip and told my niece & Ruth Ann if they could go the whole day without having an accident then I would give them a barbie. Ada has been potty trained for a while so I knew she would get a Barbie each night...I thought a little competition might push Ruth Ann in the right direction. Each night Ada got a Barbie...Ruth Ann never got one. She cried for a minute or two, but soon forgot and went back to her un-trained ways...clearly competition and bribery weren't working. I tried putting her in cloth training pants and regular undies...she would just mess them up and not tell me until I found the mess for myself later. One blog suggested taking 1-2 weeks of staying home all day every day and doing nothing but potty training...but I have a limited amount of vacation time off and if you think I'm spending 2 weeks of my precious vacation time potty training then you've lost your mind!

In the end I think she just wasn't ready. She couldn't hold it and she wasn't going to the bathroom completely when I made her sit on the potty. My friend Brantley gave me the best piece of advice about timing...leading me to my 3rd tip...

3. When you notice they are waking up from nap time and bed time dry then it may be a good time to start potty training. So I started making sure she went to the potty before nap time and bed time and I limited her fluids after supper time...success! She was waking up dry...so we started talking more about going to the potty again...the tears returned but mostly because I was interrupting what she was doing, but last night she actually stopped what she was doing and told us she needed to go to the potty! Behold, I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

If you're in the middle of potty training and would like some moral support...please feel free to contact me...I'll offer no advice because I'm seriously the last mom on the planet to offer potty training advice...but I'll be happy to offer you what ever sympathy you may need...because really that's all we need some times as moms...someone to listen to us and take their turn to try to guide us in the correct direction. I'll also share with you my own horror stories in the hopes to cheer you up and encourage you that you will make it through the potty training years...and hopefully your child will survive them too. I was fully prepared to send Ruth Ann off to college with her Depends in hand...but I'm finally to a place where I believe she may actually be potty trained by then!

These days...

2011-09-19T09:25:00.000-04:00

In the last few weeks my life has been consumed by what seems to be a million little chores. After finally getting through weeks of consignment sales...which I'll post on and offer some tips for future consigning...and finally feeling like my house is clean and somewhat tidy...I feel like I'm starting to regain some of my sanity. I don't know where I heard these words...I read a lot of blogs and I check Facebook frequently so I probably picked it up in one of those two places...but throughout my most stress filled days in recent weeks, my mantra has been...

These days may seem long...

But these years are short.

As frustrated as I get with the blond headed child...I know I only get a few brief years with her...although I've told her she can live with me forever...we just haven't cleared that with her daddy yet. I'm trying hard to look past the messy house, the drama-mama tears and the defiant moments...which is hard...and enjoy these short years I get to spend with my little ones.

A day at the "lake"

2011-09-16T21:53:00.001-04:00

For as long as we've been friends with Graem and Brantley Clark we've heard stories about "Travis"...and if you know Travis you understand the need for quotation marks. At most all the Clark events they've hosted we've always told he's going to be there but he's either been a no-show or his arrival was well after we had left the party. Travis is a childhood friend of Graem's and a few years ago purchased a "lake resort" in their hometown. A few weeks ago Graem mentioned Travis would love to have us all come down to Richardson's Lake and spend the day. Unfortunately warm summer weekends were limited and since Saturdays in the Fall revolve around football games we weren't able to stay as long as we might have liked. Arch claimed we would actually be swimming in a "pond" not a "lake"...which ended up being the truth...but it's not the first time I've gone swimming in a pond...and it's definitely the most fun I've ever had pond swimming! We arrived to a warm welcome from Travis...with free admission and the best seats in the house. The weather was fantastic...which I don't think Travis had anything to do with, but he might actually take credit for it anyway!

Here's our host and Roper...

The girls did a little sliding on the baby slide...

I'm not sure if this was breaking any rules...

But there was minimal supervision...

Graem had vacated his post when a much larger 10-ish year old little girl came down the larger slide right on top of Ruth Ann...she wasn't hurt, but mostly just scared. Imagine an angry bear ~~stomping~~ entering the water...that was me. I picked Ruth Ann and lectured the little girl about being more responsible. She apologized several times but I didn't care...I was seeing red. Another mother came up and asked if it had been her son that had caused the accident. I told her no and explained what had happened...but from the shore Sally and Brantley thought this was the momma of the little girl I was scolding and perhaps things were going to get ugly. I'm not violent in anyway...but in the famous words of Graem Clark "It felt like good fighting weather." Had I been approached it most definitely could have turned ugly quickly...but that little girl's mother either didn't mind having a stranger scold her or she was noticeably absent...or maybe both...who knows...but the fun did continue on...

The boys played...

Travis passed out treats for the kids...

And the men played too...

The walkway looks really close to the end of the slide...even in person...but Travis said the goal of the kids who slide is to be able to touch the walkway with their feet. We saw one little kid get close, but I think you have to weigh less than 100lbs to achieve this goal...adults who slide look like this upon entry...

Then we sat down to eat a quick lunch and the ladies spotted a hot ride coming our way...

Oh wait, that's just our men being chauffeured by Travis in his baby blue El Camino...I'm told it also a sweet sound system...a boom box...classy!

We finally headed back to Columbia so some of Gamecocks in my life could get home in time to watch their football game...even though I missed the first 3 quarters of mine, but I'm willing to make sacrifices for a good time...and a good time was had by all! We're looking forward to more time spent "pond side" next summer! Thanks again Travis!

Beach Recap

2011-09-15T10:13:00.003-04:00

So the thought crossed my mind this week that I never finished posting all of our pictures from the beach...so here's a quick summary of how the rest of our week went...

My SIL, Toni, is a park ranger in the upstate and had heard through her park ranger friends that during our time at the beach the loggerhead sea turtle nests were expected to start hatching and the rangers at Huntington State Park would have scheduled times were the public could watch them check the nests. There was a little mis-communication and we thought we would actually be seeing the little sweet sea turtles actually hatching and heading out to sea. We quickly ate our dinner on the night we had decided to go watch the sea turtles and raced out of the door and down to Huntington State Park...but this was as close as we got to any sea turtles....

Ruth Ann picked the last one up and held it tight while begging us to take it home...just kidding...what you're looking at is a model of what the sea turtles look like. The nest had hatched several days earlier and the rangers come back several days after they're sure the nest is empty to count the number of hatched and un-hatched eggs...

This ranger is putting the shell remains into groups of ten so she can do a quick count in the end. The nest had about 120 hatched eggs and only a few that didn't hatch so it was a success. We learned a little info about sea turtles and the most interesting quote from the evening was the ranger explaining just how little we actually know about sea turtles. The only time we get a glimpse into sea turtle activity is when they come ashore to lay their eggs. The analogy he made is to that of aliens coming to Earth to study humans but the only time they could study our activity is while women were in labor...yikes! Here is a picture of the very knowledgeable ranger with our very own family park ranger...I wish Toni had brought along her matching hat...maybe next year!

Huntington State Park is really a beautiful place...and yet another reminder of how lucky I am to live in such a fabulous state. Sometimes it's hard to imagine what the beaches looked like before they were filled with hotels and houses...this gives you an idea of the beaches prior to being populated...

We took advantage of some beach pictures without houses in the background and took a few family pictures...

Then we made the walk back down the beach...with the help of my mom and Toni we carried the double stroller out to the beach and pushed that thing to the nest they were checking that night...but here's why it's handy to bring along a few teenage boys for the walk back to the car...

The rest of the week was filled with beach times and nap times...

And we tried to get a few evening beach pictures of our own...and I'm reminded once more how hard it is to get children to take a good picture and I'm thankful for a great professional photographer in my life!

I wanted to get one with Ruth Ann walking in the water with her dress...but it looks like my years of keeping her as clean as possible back fired on me and someone didn't want to get her dress wet...

Then we flew some kites Aunt Toni had brought...

And fought over the kites Aunt Toni had brought...

We also tried to get a family picture...possibly for the Christmas card this year...

Spencer brought a friend to the beach and his birthday was a few days after we left...and since I don't need much of an excuse to buy a birthday cake we had a little birthday party while we were there too...

And that wraps up the Beach Pictures of 2011...we're already booked for next year and can't wait!

Grandparents Day

2011-09-12T14:56:00.000-04:00

Last week Ruth Ann's school invited all the grandparents to their school for the first 30 minutes of their day. Arch's parents had scheduled some appointments for that morning so they couldn't make it but my parents were able to work out their schedule so they could be there...

Ruth Ann showed them some of the toys she likes to play with...

And while she and Papaw shared a doughnut & some juice...

Grammy finished up the craft project they had prepared for the morning...

Then Ruth Ann shared some juice with Grammy...

And I took one last picture before I snuck out the door...

Ruth Ann is getting use to her new school and didn't cry last week when I dropped her off...but I didn't want to risk it on Grandparents day...I wasn't sure how she would react if she had to say goodbye to me and Grammy at the same time.

A few kids in her class didn't have grandparents there with them that morning because their grandparents don't live near by. I was one of those kids growing up and only got to see my grandparents a few times a year. That was also in the days prior to free long distance calls so we also didn't talk on the phone very often either. Arch and I are both lucky to have our parents living so close to us...and we are very thankful for it too. But that morning I thought about just how thankful I was all morning. Even though there are times I wish I could live in Auburn...which is the cutest little town and a great place to raise children...I know I'm exactly where I'm suppose to be and I'm thankful for it!

8 months old

2011-09-10T08:31:00.001-04:00

Okay, okay....I know, I know...I said I would be more on the ball with Tripp's 8 month post...but between Auburn trips, consignment Round #2 and living in the world's messiest house (part of which Tripp is now contributing to)...I haven't had a lot of time on my hands this week. There, you've heard my excuse...take it or leave it...

Anyway...this sweet fellow is now 8 months old!

Is this one of the cutest babies on the planet or am I just biased or is it both?? 6-7 months are really my very favorite ages during the baby year...why you may ask?? Because at around 8 months the dreaded mobility begins. Now with my first child I was SO ready to see her crawl and then move from one new stage of developmental to the next. With my second I knew better...being able to place your child down in one place, leave a room, and know you can return to find them sitting in the same place is a priceless gift...and a gift I treasurED...past tense because those days are sadly over at our house. And now there are 4 out of 5 people in my house who leave a mess behind them...although right now he's the only one who still can't pick up after himself...but the other 3 don't either so it's both a messy and a touchy subject for me right now!

And because Tripp is so active now he only wants to go and do as he pleases...therefore, this was by far the hardest monthly picture to take...

This picture is very cute...and I love how blue his eyes are...but you can't see the cute shirt chronicling his age...priorities!!

Also another sweet picture...I love those sweet lips, chubby cheeks and ring filled arms and legs...but again, can't see the shirt.

And finally...

So now you can't see the cute shirt or the cute baby boy...this is what the majority of the pictures looked like. It does help to get his picture with Ruth Ann because she can anchor him down and he doesn't move...as much. But I heard someone say long before I started having children to make it a priority to have pictures of your 2nd child by themselves...and so this has been my goal. As he gets older I'll train him to sit and smile just like his sister...they are in front of the camera A LOT at our house so there's lots of time to practice...but that takes time and he's a long way from following any orders...and he tears up & pokes out that plump bottom lip when his momma raises her voice and that breaks this momma's heart so training may take much longer...or never even happen! Yeah, he already has me completely figured out.

So at 8 months Tripp is...
~clearly crawling was our biggest accomplishment but just a few days before he started trying to move around he also started pulling himself up to a seated position.
~babbling away, but now in 2 syllables...he favorite thing to is to say "ah-pu"...I think he just likes the way the "pu" sounds feels as it leaves his month in an explosion of air...for the SLP's and Audiologist in my life I'm trying to say he's added a plosive to his vocab but I have purged all the articulation info from my brain and I can't remember what that the symbols look like to write it out phonetically. But he's also been heard saying "mama" and "daddy"...still not in the correct way. We also started watch Baby Signing Time again at our house and Ruth Ann is picking back up on her signing skills too!
~eating, eating...still the same menu from last month but he's starting to drop his mid morning bottle...I think I'm going to substitute it with a Yo-Baby yogurt this month.
~this boy is loud, Loud, LOUD...but I think it's kinda cute that he is making his presence known in our house.
~he's happy and he knows it...as messy and as stressful as my life feels right now with 2 small children in my life...if funds were limitless and I could stay home because hey, who needs to work with limitless funds...I would have lots more babies...I make sweet ones that make you just want more. Don't read too much into that last statement. I knew without a shadow of a doubt I was done while I was pregnant with Tripp...hence the mass consigning I've been doing this past month. When you know you're done, you know...and I'm happy to end on such a sweet note!
~still not holding a bottle by himself...which I'm okay with...I love holding it for him. I did throw out all our old pink girlly Nuby cups this week...Ruth Ann really just uses the zip-lock plastic cups now...and replaced them with new boy colored cups. I remember trying to teach Ruth Ann at this age to drink from a sippy but she really wasn't good at it until after she turned one. She actually drank better from a straw before she mastered a sippy and life has turned out fine for her, so I'm not rushing...I'll keep holding his bottle for as long as he likes...see, he's got me completely wrapped!
~we dropped his crib and took Ruth Ann's out all in the same week...another reason I may have been feeling on edge this week...by babies are growing up too fast!

Sweet Tripp-man, I can't believe you're 8 months old. Once you started crawling you've been off and haven't looked back...I have a feeling you're going to be running circles around your sister very soon...and putting her in her place...she needs it so go right ahead! One year ago we found out you would be a little fellow...and I'll be honest, I didn't know what I was going to do with a little boy...but I quickly fell in love with you the minute I met you. There's a sweet and special place in a momma's heart for little boys and you have that part of my heart completely!

What a difference 15 years make

2011-09-05T17:32:00.002-04:00

This past weekend we made a family trip to Auburn. When I found out one of my college roommates, who now lives in Texas, would be here for the first game I started making plans for my family to take a little road trip. I had also not seen my BFF, Andrea, and her family in over a year...which is crazy that so much time has gone by since our last visit...so it was high time we head to the loveliest village on the plains.

As we were driving down interstate I started thinking about what a different trip this was compared to the trip I made almost exactly 15 years ago to the same college campus. I can barely wrap my mind around the fact that 15 years ago I started my freshman year at Auburn...and now I'm riding with my husband and children to see my college friends with their husbands and children...C-R-A-Z-Y!! And if the next 15 years go by as quickly as the last then before I know it I'll be driving Ruth Ann to Auburn to start her freshman year...hurry, someone grab a tissue for me!

We got to Auburn at bedtime Thursday night, so we basically dropped our bags and went to bed. Friday morning we got up and headed into Auburn to take a few pictures and do some eating at one of my favorites...The BBQ House...yummy! Then it was picture time!

To go with the picture I took of his sister when she was about the same age...

Along with a traditional sign picture...there are some of me floating around from graduation day prior to the digital camera age...

Then we headed to Toomer's. I think most everyone who follows college football heard about what happened at Auburn last Fall. A nutty Alabama fan with some false information about an event from 20+ years ago decided after our Iron Bowl victory to head up to Toomer's Corner to poison the live oaks on our campus. If Auburn is anything, it's is rich in tradition...and I know most alumni feel the same way about their alma maters...but Auburn is RICH in tradition. One of our best traditions is rolling Toomer's Corner after an Auburn victory. Whether the victory is big or small...those trees get rolled. When I heard what this moron had done a big part of me wanted to pack my children up that very minute and drive to Auburn to take a picture with the trees since they will most likely not be there when they're students at Auburn. 3 generations have rolled these trees and shared that experience with their children and grandchildren and it breaks my heart that I won't be able to do the same. For this reason, getting a picture at Toomer's Corner was a top priority!

I put Arch in charge of the picture taking so I would be in the picture with the children...which is a rare for me to be on the other side of the camera...so it's even more rare to have a full family picture...but God, who I believe to be an Auburn fan...was watching out for us. When we walked up to the corner there were some men walking around with a very professional looking camera. They left on a golf cart shortly after we got there but as Arch was taking my picture they happened to drive back by. Profession camera man jumped out of the cart and walked over to Arch. He took my camera from Arch, told us where to stand, and took these two pictures...

How lucky am I?? These are great pictures...but I just wish Spencer had been with us because these could have been our Christmas card this year! I'm so thankful for these pictures and they will be ones I treasure forever!

That night we ordered pizza and Erin drove over from Montgomery with her family to spend some time with us. The next day the game was at 11am...which means pre-game activities would be starting at 9am...too early for my bones...but the great thing about being in Auburn during game time...when you don't have tickets to the game...is you can eat ANYWHERE without a wait. We had a yummy lunch at Niffer's, another favorite, and then spent the afternoon relaxing. After the game was over...and I recovered from game induced high blood pressure...we grabbed some grilling meat and head to the campers to hang out with Candi and her family. Amanda also drove over so we could visit for awhile...and to begin Asher and Ruth Ann's courtship!

These two quickly began playing and laughing together and I couldn't be happier that he couldn't take his eyes off of Ruth Ann all night...

Amanda was my first friend at Auburn...we were in the same college orientation group the summer before we began our freshman year, and Candi was my roommate for 2 years. I honestly still feel like I was just living those days and now we're standing at tailgate with our children! I often have a hard time excepting that I'm a grown up...this was a moment where the fact that I am a grown-up was right smack dab in front of my face! This trip was fantastic...I got to visit and spend time with 4 out of 6 of my brides maids...I consider that an overly successful trip! Oh and Auburn won...but only just barely. I've warned Tripp that his first season as an Auburn Tiger may be a tough one...but that just builds good character!

Power of Dixie Land

2011-09-01T11:22:00.000-04:00

Ahhh...football season is upon us...I thought I'd share a few of my favorite songs and videos...

This is Auburn's fight song...

This was the video that played before every game in the stadium...but I kinda think it should be the new Auburn fight song too. I know I'll always think of Auburn every time I hear it played!

And a little taste of what last season was all about...

Oh my goodness I'm ready to see those navy jersery's take the field! We may not repeat the season we had last year...but I'll be cheering every week just the same! WAR EAGLE friends!!

Consigning

2011-08-31T19:22:00.000-04:00

I'll be totally honest and say when I had friends who started shopping consignment sales I kinda turned my nose up like a big fat snob...but after visiting the Monkey Hunt consignment sale in Columbia a few years ago I completely changed my mind...and after I started buying clothes on the regular of my children...and realizing how often clothes have to be purchased...suddenly gently used clothing didn't seem like such a bad thing. The Monkey Hut sale is also in a more affluent part of Columbia so the quality is fantastic.

Since I now know we will not be having any more children and I don't have to pass Ruth Ann's clothes down to a younger baby sister...it was time for me to try my hand at selling in a consignment sale...

I started bagging and tagging and drove my stash across town a week ago...

There were 2 more totes behind the 2 you can see...and that's a bouncy seat on top...I threw it in at the last minute.

I would say my first attempt was a success...I sold just over $800 worth of clothes...after the cut from the person who organizes the whole thing my take home was $525...not bad for my first try and it was all clothing with the exception of the bouncy seat...and I had it priced cheap just to get it out of my living room. I'm going to put some more clothes and the left-overs from this sale into a sale coming up a little closer to home. I have to say my favorite part of the whole experience was checking my total sales each night and seeing that number climb, climb, climb...my least favorite part...realizing how much money I've spent on my children's clothing!

Fun Friends at the Beach

2011-08-30T19:46:00.000-04:00

A few weeks before we were to leave for the beach Arch & Justin realized we would be at the beach the same week. The Browns were not going to be there the full week, but several of the days they would be seaside would be the same week as our vacation. We made plans to meet up because what is more fun than hanging out with good friends at the beach?? Honestly, the only thing that would have made it even better were if the Clarks announced they would be there the same week...which almost happened since they got to the beach on Friday of the same week...but unfortunately the Clarks, Browns and McCarty's were not all together at once...we'll have to plan that trip for another year!

Anyway, the Browns came down to our beach house and we hit the beach hard...

I never get tired of picture of these two sweet girls together!

We played on the beach until about 3:30 and then we headed to the house for a little pool time to clean up and relax just a little bit more before they had to head back home...

Arch found massive quantities of water balloons in our garage before we left for the beach...apparently I went a little crazy buying them a few years ago...after this trip, we're officially out of water balloons...

I guess since their aim isn't the greatest the kids thought it more fun to squeeze each water balloon until it burst...

Then the boys did a little throwing...

And Betsy and Justin showed off some cheerleader moves...

But like all good fun...it came to an end and the Browns headed home...but it only confirmed what I already believed...we should be taking beach trips with our friends on the regular!

Pool Days

2011-08-29T16:29:00.000-04:00

Summer is coming to a end...tear...so I thought I'd relive some of our summer days and announce something I've been holding in for a few weeks...

Do you want to know what's better than having a pool in your own back yard??? Having parent's with a pool in their back yard! We get full access without the maintenance...we love going to swim and I know Grammy loves having us. As our kids get older, my friends and I find it easier to pack up and head to my parents for the day. This past summer we managed a few more days than we did last year...and I think it will become even more frequent next summer.

I'm not sure where Ruth Ann picked up this pose...I promise it wasn't from me or Arch!

Tripp-man continues to be happy to float the afternoon away...unless it's close to feeding time...he'll let you know when it's time to feed the beast!

The Brown's joined us for some sliding & diving board fun...

Betsy easily jumped off the diving board more than any other child at the pool...and each time she wanted you to watch her perform what she felt would be a different jumping trick...however, each look the same...but we let her know how much we enjoyed each of her unique tricks!

And don't think for one minute that the momma's didn't join in on the fun...

Sally showed off moves I haven't attempted since my teen years...and here's Brantley holding her MIDDLE child on the sliding board...

And if you know Brantley then you've also realized this is the BIG NEWS! When I loaded these pictures a few weeks ago I knew this would be how I would announce on the blog that the Clark's had allowed the children to out number them with the addition of #3! Did you think I was crazy enough to have another??? 3 McCarty kids will be all our household can handle! I'm about as excited to hear the gender of Clark #3 as I was to find out the gender of my own babies...I take that back, I may be more excited! Brantley and Graem do have cute baby boys...but I'm curious to see what a girl would look like and to see Graem with a baby girl in his life! Congrats to the Clarks!!

Waiting Out the Storm

2011-08-28T15:18:00.001-04:00

August 27th was Arch's birthday...and also the day Hurricane Irene was scheduled to make land fall on SC. Arch really wanted a family lake day on his birthday so all week we watched Irene's progress. We were thankfully she started to turn north and practically miss our state all together. Although the coast got some rain and strong winds...we just got a cloudy, breezy day out of the whole thing.

Once we saw the coast was clear for us we began planning our day. We headed out early Saturday morning...Arch took Ruth Ann to the lake house with him, I had a few stops to make on my way so I had just Tripp-man. We got to the lake just before lunch, met the Brown family and we ate lunch together. Then we hit the lake and headed to Hurricane Hole...the most appropriate place on the lake to wait out the storm...right??? We got there and found some friends of the Browns who had rented slide boat...imagine a 2 story pontoon boat with a slide from the upper decking shooting you straight into the lake...fun times were had by all! I wish I could have taken a picture...and though I am known to get in the water with my camera...I just wasn't brave enough to do it in water I couldn't touch the bottom in.

Eventually the Clarks joined the fun and shortly after the slide boat left. We floated and chatted a little while longer and then Graem...with his super stealth maneuvering...inflated the tube for us to enjoy. Jay and Justin went first and I was on the other boat, so I don't have any pictures of them...but after the Brown family left we loaded up on the Clark's boat and I got a few pictures of some of our tubers...

Do you think she has fun playing with her big brother?? And is there any doubt these two are related...Ruth Ann is what Spencer would have looked like if he had been a girl!

Then Mason joined in and Roper rode later with Graem...but I was holding babies while Arch drove the boat so I didn't get a picture of Roper riding...but he had fun, you'll just have to take my word for it!

Tripp just sat and enjoyed the ride...

Which must be hard when the life vest looks so uncomfortable!

And the wind really did a number on his hair...

Oh, I love those sweet cheeks and lips!

Then we headed in for hotdogs...which took a few more minutes to prepare than we had originally planned...but that just made them taste better when it was time to eat. After our bellies were full we loaded up tired babies...and tired mommas...and headed home. Ruth Ann was exhausted...she slept until almost 10am this morning...Tripp, not so much. He was up and looking for his breakfast bottle at 7:30am...so that means a Sunday nap is in my future!

Beach-Part 2

2011-08-25T20:14:00.000-04:00

So this is the first summer we have waited until August to hit the beach...and this wasn't by our own choice. The week we were there was the only week available for the beach house we love so much. It was hard reading on Facebook week in and week out about everyone elses beach vacations...but our time was coming so we patiently waited...and waited...and waited.

Finally, our week arrived and we loaded up and headed out!

Each morning Tripp would take his morning nap on the beach...

Then he would play a little...these were his first moments playing on the beach...

My dad didn't come to the beach with us this year...but on more than one occasion Tripp's facial expressions were very much like my dad's. The picture above is a perfect example.

I attempted to get a picture of Ruth Ann and Tripp together on the beach...but these two beach bums are a little bit difficult to photograph together!

After a little play time, Tripp usually headed in for a bottle and an afternoon nap. The rest of us stayed on the beach to play until about 3pm...then we headed back to the house to relax in the pool...

Floaties are a MUST if you have Ruth Ann in the vicinity of a body of water. To date she has jumped in the pool without a life jacket on 4 times...swimming lessons will be a must for this girl next summer...my heart can't take another summer of this!

Beach 2011-Part 1

2011-08-24T19:16:00.000-04:00

My family is all probably reading this post and thinking "FINALLY!"...I'm a few weeks delayed in posting about our Family Beach Trip 2011...here goes...

Growing up my family didn't take annual vacations...my mom stayed home with me and my brother and looking back as a grown-up I now understand it just wasn't in the budget for our family to do those kinds of trips on a regular basis. At times I envy my friends who are stay-at-home moms & I'm thankful to have had a mom who sacrificed to be room mom, who sat in the car-rider lane day in & day out and entertained me every summer growing up...but I do enjoy the income I help provide to our household so my kids can have these kinds of fun memories when they grow up. My mom started working again after I started college so we started having family vacations to the beach every summer. At first it was the whole family...but as time went by it started being just a trip for me and my mom. Then Arch & Spencer came into the picture and they started joining us, then Adam, Toni and my dad started coming and before too long we were all vacationing as a family again. 4 summers ago some friends recommended the beach house that we now love and look forward to visiting but with the addition of kids to our family my mom started looking into Disney vacations and joined the Disney Vacation Club...which we love it too. During the last two summers we've been burning through my mom's vacation club points so we've done several different Disney themed vacations. This year we're headed to Disney for a Birthday Girl Spectacular to celebrate Ada, my mom and Ruth Ann's birthdays...all which fall within the same week. My mom and I thought it would be a fun idea to head back to our favorite summer home. Our last summer to vacation at the beach house was the summer of 2008...I was 5 months pregnant and just found out we would be having a baby girl and Ada as 7 months old...which was how old Tripp was on this past vacation...that is so hard for be to believe! As this year's vacation started to approach I realized it would be a bitter-sweet return back to this beach house. The last vacation we took there was the last time we all vacationed together before Adam's passing and as our vacation got closer this thought crossed my mind more and more often.

Several things happened during our beach trip that made it feel like a piece of Adam was there with us...

#1: Trouble making boys...I won't share the drama...but it was very similar to trouble Adam and his friends use to find themselves in!

#2: This sweet girl...

There are lots of times where I still get teary talking about Adam...like as I'm typing this now. Sometimes I can talk about him like nothing has ever changed but other times it still hurts to think about how much all our lives have changed in the last 2 years. But this little girl, who lost the most 2 years ago, talks about her daddy with such ease that I feel like my heart healed a little during the week we spent with her. One morning Arch went to the grocery store to pick up a few odds and ends. While he was gone Ruth Ann started talking about how she missed her daddy and started asking questions about where he was. She turned around to Ada and asked where her daddy was. As I held my breath Ada responded simply by saying "He's in Heaven." without missing a beat. Ada was only 16 months old when we lost Adam and one of the my most vivid memories from that day was seeing Ada in the lap of one of Toni's friends. I remember thinking how small she was and knowing she was never going to remember that day...but she was also not going to remember her daddy either. Toni has clearly done a great job keeping his memory alive because she talks about him frequently without a hint of sadness in her voice. I also realized during our week together how hungry she is for others to share their memories of Adam...oh the memories I have in store to share with this girl! I'll be sure to edit the content for her sake!

Please don't think I was all weepy and sad all week long...we had one of our best vacations yet...minus the teen drama. If I've learned anything in the last 2 years it's to enjoy each and every moment together with your family...none of us have a promise of tomorrow so enjoy your today's!

Blog posts to follow will be picture loaded...I promise!

New Year, New School

2011-08-23T20:15:00.001-04:00

Last Spring I cried when we said goodbye to Ruth Ann's pre-school teachers. I had tears because Ruth Ann had finished her first year of pre-school & I simply can't except that my baby girl is growing up...I had tears because I just loved her sweet teachers and I couldn't bare the thought of not seeing them every week...and I had tears because I knew we were leaving our school and all the friends we had made behind to start a new school in the Fall. Ruth Ann had been going to school just one day a week and I knew I wanted her to go a few more days a week the next school year. Unfortunately the school she was attending didn't allow for drop offs until 8:30 which is the exact time I need to be at work. It's also in the opposite direction of work for both me and for Arch. I'm blessed with free childcare so I didn't want to inconvenience my in-laws but asking them to get out into to what is some pretty awful traffic just to drop Ruth Ann off in the morning. So I decided to switch schools this year. She's going to a really fantastic school that has had a day school for 45 years. Spencer, my niece and nephew have all been through this program so I know it's great. It's also less than a mile from my in-laws and they don't even have to get onto a major road to go pick her up. They also offer early drop off so I get to take her every morning...that was what sealed the deal.

Today was the first day...and she was ready to get to her new school to make new friends!

I'm going to be looking at this picture for years and wonder why I didn't pull her pants leg down...oh well, we were in a rush this morning!

Just a few picture's to keep the blog honest!

Does this picture make anyone else cry just a little...I can't believe my baby girl looks so grown up!

Oh sweet girl, I wish you the best school year yet! You were so excited to start school in this picture...but minutes later you were crying when I had to leave you in your class. At lunch you told me you wanted to go back tomorrow but you weren't going to cry...let's hope! You're the ~~sassiest~~ sweetest and smartest little girl I know & I know you'll have a great year. I can't wait to hear about all the things you're going to learn and the friends you're going to make!

7 months

2011-08-23T19:45:00.000-04:00

So I know this is weeks late...Tripp's monthly picture was taken on the correct day, but me blogging about it got caught up in the cleaning & preparing for our family beach trip. Then we were at the beach and then when we got home I wrote a nice long post about Tripp at 7 months...and I left it up on the computer and Ruth Ann (who has been asked several hundred times not to touch the computer) deleted the whole thing.

Anyway, I was busy bagging and tagging last week, but tonight, I'm committed to blogging about Tripp-man...

This is the sweetest little bundle of love...and just when I think he can't get any cuter...he does!

While were at the beach I shared a room with Ruth Ann and Tripp. Every morning Tripp would start to wake up at about 7am...but this little sweet boy doesn't cry...he chatters until someone comes to get him. I loved laying in the bed and listening to all his speech sounds. I counted between 5 & 6...which is combined in all different ways to make all kinds of words...but my favorite to hear is ma-ma-ma-ma-ma...but I'm partial.

At 7 months he is getting up on all 4's pretty consistently and rocking like he is preparing for take off. He gets where he needs to go by dragging himself around on his belly...but I know we're just a few weeks away from full on crawling mobility! He hasn't the slightest interest in pulling up...Ruth Ann didn't walk until 14 months. I had a patient tell me the longer a child has an organized crawl the more it helps with brain development and this can contribute to higher IQ scores. When Ruth Ann waited months and months to walk I clung to that piece of info...and I think I'll be doing the same with Tripp-man! Crawl on little guy...momma needs college scholarships!

Tripp loves his big sister. My favorite thing to hear is Ruth Ann making him laugh while I'm driving. It's just the sweetest little belly laugh I've ever heard and I love that it's his sister who gets him to laugh like that!

It takes a lot of eating to keep up this figure for a little baby...Tripp has a 7oz bottle for breakfast, followed by a serving of pre-mixed cereal/fruit meal, another 7oz bottle just before his nap, 1-2 servings of fruit or veggie after nap, another 7oz bottle before his afternoon nap, 1-2 servings of fruit or veggie and one last 7oz bottle before bedtime. We're trying to bulk him up for Auburn football tryouts for the Fall of 2029!

Much like his sister, he's a great sleeper. At first his day time naps were not so great...but they're much better now that he gets a bottle before nap time. This is totally against Baby Wise, which I followed for both my babies to get them on a good sleep schedule. Since Tripp has been sleeping through the night since he was 10 weeks old I figured it was okay for me to adjust the feeding schedule even if it goes against what they teach...but I still highly recommend it for new babies!

I guess next week I'll be posting about Tripp at 8 months...which I can't believe is almost here!

A piece of Paradise

2011-08-22T15:22:00.002-04:00

For some, beach vacations mean staying in massive mc-mansions with all the bells and whistles.

No offense to this house...or anyone who rents it...I really don't know anything about this house in particular...it just happened to be across the street from the little piece of Paradise that we like to rent...

Nothing fancy...very beachy and in Arch's opinion the best part is...

To which his boat was docked to all week long.

My favorite part...

The pool!

To say we love this house is a HUGE understatement. We got a referral from some friends a few years ago to try this house out and we've been in serious love with it ever since. We rented it 2 summers in a row and then took 2 summers off to visit a mouse living in the central Florida area and to try out a Disney resort at Hilton Head. We decided to re-visit again this year...and we're signed up for next year too.

I've got tons of beach pics to post but this past week I've been busy tagging clothes for my first consignment sale. Those are all finally out the door and will hopefully find new homes this week which means money in my pocket! I have hopes of posting more this week...but football season is approaching and I have some orange and blue outfits to finish for my children so that may be monopolizing my time this week! Fall & football season has snuck up on me...but my children MUST be in orange and blue every week to cheer on the DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPS!! WAR EAGLE!

Sweet Roper

2011-08-11T16:12:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago we celebrated this sweet little fellow's 2nd birthday...

Roper was born 6 months after Ruth Ann and I'm just as shocked to say he's 2 years old as I am to say Ruth Ann is 2 years old herself! Since Roper has a summer birthday and a family connection to some pretty fabulous inflatable slides we were in for a BIG treat...literally, a big treat...

And for those who believe this slide was a "kids only" activity...you would be wrong...very wrong...

The party started at 11am and was scheduled to end at 2pm...we left at 4pm to let Ruth Ann nap and were invited back at 6pm for dinner and more sliding fun. Eventually the McCarty's and the Brown's each headed home around 9pm. Was this because the kids were just having so much fun we just didn't have the heart to brake up good friends having a lot of good clean fun?? Nope...the parents, who were also good friends having good clean fun, just didn't want the party to end! And for that reason I award Roper Clark's 2nd birthday to be the BEST birthday of all time! An award I think his daddy may be more proud of than the birthday boy himself! Thanks for a fun day and fun new memories sweet Roper!

post signature

2011-08-01T21:25:00.000-04:00

While in Charleston Sally, Brantley and I did a little shopping downtown...who goes to Charleston and doesn't stroll down Kings St?? While we were looking at some picture frames in Pottery Barn Sally mentioned she had a water color of her wedding dress done a few months ago and used one of the frames we were looking at in PB. I was intrigued...I loved my wedding dress and wish on a pretty regular basis that I could break it free from it's preserved wrapping to wear just one or hundred more times. She told me who did this for her and I immediately went home and contacted the artist...

Today I received an email with my dress. I've already paid for it so I feel like it's okay for me to share it now.

Umm...I love it I love it I love it!!

The artist lives in Lexington...and I love to support local vendors...but she is on Etsy for anyone else who is interested. You can find her site here...www.etsy.com/shop/laurenspaintpalette

I'm past the season in my life where friends are getting married...but were I still in need of a unique wedding gift this would be on the TOP of my list!

Sick Day...I mean Day"s"

2011-07-28T12:45:00.000-04:00

So last week Ruth Ann went to her first vacation bible school. Our church doesn't have a class for as young an age group as 3 years old, but my friend Sally's church does so when she invited us we jumped at the opportunity. Growing up my mom was VBS director for several years...this meant VBS was a big part of our summers and always something we looked forward to. As a child I looked forward to the classes and as a teenager I looked forward to picking out what age group I wanted to help out with. My hope is that Ruth Ann grows up loving VBS just as much as I did...but I have no plans of ever being VBS director!

But Ruth Ann brought home more than just some fun new memories...she brought home a summer cold. And since Ruth Ann can't remember to cover her mouth when she coughs with out me reminding her once or hundred times she passed this bug onto her brother...so this week we ended up with a ear infection diagnosis for Ruth Ann and croup for Tripp. And let me say there is nothing more sad or scary than hearing your 6 month old baby coughing his little blond head off at 2 am.

Thankfully, we're on our way to recovery...but we're still not 100%. I actually question whether Ruth Ann had an ear infection because as an obnoxious audiologist mom I promptly took Ruth Ann back to my office and my testing doesn't suggest she had fluid in her middle ear, much less an infection. But after consulting my audiology mentor and her ENT hubby I have decided to keep with the antibiotics just in case. Tripp-man seems to be coughing less and less but this is one nasty cough that just seems to be lingering. We're headed to the beach soon so hopefully the warm salt air will be just what he needs!

Good Girl Friends

2011-07-27T10:06:00.002-04:00

Whether we're big girls or little girls...a girl has to have some good friends!

You know how there are girls out there who say they just can't be friends with girls...I don't trust those girls. I'm a big believer in having a solid group of girlfriends...I always have been. When I got married my wedding party was a collection of my closest friends from different periods of my life...Kate and I had been friends since we were in the 3rd grade & played countless hours of Barbies growing up together, Mandy and I were high school friends and were often told we could be sisters, Amanda and I were in the same orientation group at Camp War Eagle and then found each other in the same math class on our first day of class our freshman year at Auburn, Candi and I lived together at Auburn for 2 years and I kinda felt like an adopted member of her family, Erin and I were roommates after college and I don't know what I would have done without Andrea during grad school...or even now for that matter! My point is, all these girls knew who each other were, but none of them were really very good friends with each other...the only thing they shared was that they were all special friends to me. I love how at each point in my life God has placed some of the most fabulous girls in my life just when I need them!

Now I'm at a point in my life where most everything I do revolves in some way around my children...and once more God has faithfully put some good girlfriends in my life to share these days with...

I'm so lucky to have these girls and their families in my life. We love seeing each other, our hubbies get along and our kids get along...PERFECT! This is the last picture from our Charleston trip and I want these two ladies to know just how much fun I had spending the weekend with them. On Sunday morning Sally and I were eating breakfast when a group of 3 gray haired ladies stopped in the lobby of our hotel to say their goodbyes to each other. They had clearly just finished a girls weekend and I told Sally I hoped that would be our group one day...but lets drive to Charleston by car when we're their age and not by boat...unless this is the boat that's getting us there.

Charleston Wrap Up

2011-07-26T21:52:00.003-04:00

So this will be the last of the blog post on our Charleston trip...and these may be the best pictures yet...

So after the dolphin spotting we stopped at the sand bar on the way back to relax and enjoy the last few hours of our child-free weekend. While we were floating Brantley thought it would be fun to inflate the tube and have Graem pull us behind the boat for a while. When Brantley asked her dear husband to do this for us he announced he had planned on inflating it to surprise us...the tube is huge and the pump he used to inflate it was very loud and we're basically out in the wide open so I'm not sure how he planned on implementing this surprise for us...but we sure appreciated the thought!

The guys were the first to ride...well, just Graem and Justin. Arch only rides the tube for one person and that person is Ruth Ann. Since his riding buddy wasn't there he drove the boat so the other two could have some fun...

To my surprise Sally had never been pulled behind a boat in any way, shape or form. Since she had seen all our kids riding behind boats this summer she felt confident we weren't going to let anything happen to her!

Then we entered a no wake zone and had planned to just let the guys pull us slowly to the other side...but we ended up falling off so we all decided to get on the boat...thank goodness...Sally refers to this a "God Moment"...as we got close to the end of the no wake zone we spotted this guy crossing the river in front of our boat...

YIKES!! I like my toes so I'm glad we didn't give him a chance to nipple them off! That ended my desire to do any more water activities...but it didn't stop these three...Brantley was actually the first to get back behind the boat...

As we got closer the lock we were starving...we did pass a small business on a boat half the size of the Clark's selling sandwiches and snacks out of a cooler...but I questioned his DHEC rating so we didn't stop. Then we passed what is clearly the best example of redneck fun at it's finest...

Hangin' out under a bridge by the river on a hot summer's day...I love living in SC!

Okay, I lied, I do have one more picture from Charleston I plan on posting but for the most part...it is finished...and now I'm ready to go again next summer!

This may be my favorite

2011-07-23T13:43:00.002-04:00

2 years ago this summer I started taking sewing classes. I started already knowing how to smock but wanted to be able to put a bishop dress together all by myself. After many, many months of trying I finally can successfully complete a smocked bishop and I've made a few other cute things along the way...but yesterday, I put together what I believe may be the cutest outfit yet...and it's a boy outfit...

I saw some jon-jons on Zulily a few weeks ago with square smocked inserts and I thought they were precious. I had wanted to learn how to put smocked insert into a t-shirt because I think it's another cute way for both boys and girls to wear smocking for a few extra years & this was the perfect way for me to start practicing. I copied this sail boat off a dress Ruth Ann has because I think matching siblings can be compared to making sure your shoes match the rest the outfit...it just has to be done!

I put this on Tripp this morning and I LOVE IT! I'll be honest and say I was little bummed when I found out I was having a boy because I would have never believed sewing for boys could be fun...but it so is! I'm finding that I think I like sewing for him better because his outfits are not as time consuming or complicated. I love being able to sit down for a few hours and come out with a finished product like these jon-jons. And putting these clothes on the cutest little boy on the planet helps too!

Graem Clark, Dolphin Cruise, Inc.

2011-07-22T09:06:00.001-04:00

On our way down to Charleston we were on the look out for dolphins. We saw the occasional flipper surface but when we would get close to them they would scatter. On the way home Sunday morning Sally thought it would be a good idea to cut our music when we got close...perhaps they didn't share our love for the Jack Brown Band/David Allen Coe/Hank Williams Jr Party Mix brought to us by our Music Mix Master, Justin Brown. And you know what...she was right! Thanks to our captain, Graem Clark, and his watchful eyes along with his master navigation of the deck boat we got an up close look at this family of dolphins...at least I like to think of them as a family...maybe they were just a group of good friends coming home from a weekend river trip too! Here's a video with the most action from our dolphin cruise...it's kinda hard to see here, but they were everywhere and because my video battery died and I don't want to bore you with hours of grown adults saying "Oh my goodness", "Look at that"& "Wow"...I leave you with these 3 minutes of dolphin excitement...

Finally...

2011-07-21T21:04:00.000-04:00

Ruth Ann took to her pacie like a natural...but Tripp resisted. I'm a momma who wants her babies to keep a pacie...pacies just make everything all better for a fussy/sleepy/cranky/or for what ever is bothering your baby.

Finally...Tripp has taken to his pacie...

And he loves it...

And I couldn't be more happy!

PS: Is it just me or is he just about the cutest little 6mth old baby boy on the planet??

We've arrived

2011-07-18T12:26:00.001-04:00

After some sight seeing of the Charleston coast line we finally got into the marina...and realized we were way out of our league in regards to our boat size...

Notice the boat on the back of the massive yacht??? There were 2 boats on the back of this yacht with a crane to lift them into the water...I can't even begin to imagine just how much this boat cost.

There were also some ships with names we all liked...

Finally we found our boat slip. Since we had still managed to avoid any rain we decided to venture up the Ashley River to finally start enjoying our relaxing boat trip...

Are you wondering what the inside joke is??? Well, as we were riding up the Ashley River we discovered an extra long dock without a boat attached...so we decided this was the perfect place to tie up the Clark's boat...

A big thanks to the family living here...

We enjoyed our time while tied up to your dock.

I didn't carry my camera for much of my time in Charleston...the next picture is from Saturday night when we went out to eat at Amen Street. I wish I had grabbed my camera for our carriage ride...next year I won't forget to leave it behind!

PS-this picture makes me wish I was still coloring my hair blonde...I miss my blonde days.

After dinner we went to an Irish pub and Sally & Brantley were invited on stage by these not so kind men...

I say "not so kind" because the big one on the right...which we referred to as Milton (a reference to Office Space)...called me an ugly name because I wouldn't join them on stage...going on stage with the band has NEVER been my thing...even during my college years.

We got here around 10:30...which felt so late me...and it was kinda slow but the later it got the more the place started to fill up & I realized this would have been when we would have arrived 10 years ago when I was closer to 21 than 35 years old. I felt like my age was definitely starting to show!

We got up bright and early the next morning to start our long trip home...from door to door it took close to 12 hours...but lots of fun and memories were made during those 12 hours!

Smiling Faces & Beautiful Places

2011-07-17T10:46:00.001-04:00

If you're from SC, this title sounds familiar...or if you've ever driven behind someone from SC & you've read our license plates...never were there words more true. Riding down the river I kept thinking how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful state.

Even though we knew there were cities and towns miles beyond the grass along the river, it was still neat to think that this view hasn't changed in hundreds of years. It was so peaceful and I think we were all starting to relax even though those dark clouds were still chasing us to Charleston.

As we got closer to Charleston we entered the Charleston Naval yard...part of which is top secret and photography is strictly prohibited...a lesson Brantley learned the hard way last year. I wish I could have taken a picture of the boat that followed us through this area with a machine gun pointed in our direction, but you'll just have to imagine it for yourself!

Then we got an up close look at the Port of Charleston...

Those tiny blocks on the bottom are what we see pulled by 18 wheelers on the interstate...that gives you little perspective as to how large these two pieces of equipment are...and these weren't the only two we saw...they were everywhere!

On this massive ship they look like legos...

And we got a close up look at a tug boat.

And the Ravenel Bridge.

And this is for anyone who was in my Brownie Troop...you may remember our weekend on the York Town...this hottest weekend of my entire life!

We were lucky enough to have some very generous friends let us use their boat slip at a marina on the Ashley river, so this meant we got to cruise around Charleston and get a boat side view of the city. If you look past all the new buildings on the shore I think it's neat to think those church steeples & homes along the battery are what welcomed sailors before the war between the states...that's for you Brantley :). But I do love a Palmetto tree so they're a nice touch!

The girls went on a carriage ride on Saturday and learned that this house...

Is the Roper house...which is Brantley's maiden name. Her family is an old SC family and we had hopes perhaps she was a direct descendant and we could stay here on all future trips to Charleston...but sadly, the original owners had no children...but maybe is was Great Uncle Roper's house and we could still try to sneak in! After our carriage ride this year I think we're all ready to tour some house museums to see the inside of these beautiful homes!

I've been to Charleston countless times, but going there by boat made me very thankful to live in such a beautiful place...I'm already looking forward to our boat trip next year!

Rollin' down the river

2011-07-16T22:08:00.002-04:00

Last summer the Clarks and the Browns invited us to join them on a weekend river trip. Their plan was to go down the river to Charleston and back in two days...sounded fun, but I was 5 months pregnant and the thought of being in the hot sun on a boat with others who were not going to as sober as I didn't sound like my idea of a fun weekend at the time...in hindsight we should have gone because it's a really great trip.

This year when plans started to be made for the 2nd annual river trip the McCarty's were in...but we added a day this year so we could relax one day in Charleston.

We headed out EARLY Friday morning...Arch woke me up at 6:30am asking why I wasn't already out of bed. I sent a text message to Sally and Brantley warning them that the smoke they may see as we approached our meeting point would be coming from Arch since his pants were clearly on fire! This was the first hint that the trip down to Charleston would not be the relaxing cruise I had been expecting. Anyway, we got to the Clark's house, loaded up and headed to Monks Corner, SC...aka, The Middle of Nowhere...and put the boat in at a landing I hope to never visit again for the rest of my life...Adkins Landing...

Although frightening, we did discover some lake side property Arch & I might be able to afford...

This house had this view...

This is Lake Moultrie and this landing is just around the corner from the Pinopolis Dam where you enter the Pinopolis Lock...

Please also note the dark clouds filling the sky...the reason that now all 3 husband's pants were ablaze to get us to Charleston...

If you've never been in a lock it's really is a neat experience...and factor in a lock full of SC rednecks and it becomes a unique experience!

This is the view from the highest point in the lock looking down at the canal below...

We were pretty close to the bottom of the lock when we took this picture...those door in the background are what hold the water back as we were lowered to the level of the river.

Then the doors opened

and we were off...here's a look back at the lock...

Lots of fun was had and I have several more posts to fill you in our weekend of boating fun!

How we celebrated the 4th

2011-07-15T16:12:00.002-04:00

I know this post is a little late, but I had a few cute, funny & very honest pictures from how we celebrated the 4th of July that I wanted to share.

We started off by heading out to the lake with the Brown's to watch the fireworks over Lake Murray on July 2nd...

These two sweet girls snack in the captain and co-captain chairs while their daddy's guided up to our swimming hole.

Then we all swam and relaxed for a little while. Betsy got tired of swimming and mostly wanted to hang out with Tripp in the boat. Ruth Ann and Jay stayed in the water together and these two had quite the conversation...we overheard Jay telling Ruth Ann to hang on to his bathing suit...Dad's monitored the situation from there on out, but let me say that I would over the moon excited if Ruth Ann and Jay Brown were ever to end up together...you CAN NOT find a sweeter little boy!

Then on the 3rd we got up and headed to my in-laws lake house for some more fun on the water...

That's my nephew and my brother-law and then my niece and her friend took the tube for a spin...all the while Ruth Ann cried and begged for a turn. Until this point she didn't even know what tubing was and had never been pulled by the boat...but that didn't stop her from begging like a crazy child...but we waited for the girls to get back before we loaded up...

Then Ruth Ann was off tubing with her Daddy...

She waved to her fans...

And even managed to boss her daddy around with that little sassy finger even while being pulled around the cove...

Then we headed home for naps and showers to head over to the Brown's house. the Brown's have an annual 4th of July party...but Jay's birthday is also on the 4th...so this year the 4th of July party was on the 3rd and then they had a family b-day party on the 4th...confused, don't be...here's some pictures of how we partied with friends on the 3rd of July...

Ruth Ann did a little snacking and chatting with Betsy Brown...it wasn't until I sat down to write this post that I realized Ruth Ann and Bets did a lot of eating together over the weekend!

After eating and chatting it was time for games. Sally had several fun games...all of which I didn't really get to see much of since Tripp was with us and it was dinner time for him too. But I did manage to get one picture just before they all raced to get their own flag for the backyard parade...

Ruth Ann got a little confused because 2 days prior to the party we had attended the parade for the Gamecocks...so she had some high expectations, one being that Grammy was going to be there...this was a more low key affair for the kids to march around the yard to patriotic music while waving their flags!

I love how Jay Brown has his hand on his heart just over Ruth Ann's shoulder...so sweet!

Now for the honest pictures...for those who believe Ruth Ann always cooperates and smiles for pictures, please don't let me fool you...

And for those who don't believe me when I say Ruth Ann has ATTITUDE...please trust me...

Then on the 4th Tripp-man and I stayed home, I cleaned house/he rested, while the rest of my family went back to the lake for Round 3 of lake side fun. I still can't beleive the 4th of July has come and gone...that means one thing...football season is right around the corner & I don't know aobut you, but I'm ready to see the defending National Champs take the field! WAR EAGLE!!!

I heart a kitty...

2011-07-11T11:40:00.001-04:00

And now Ruth Ann does too!

I've always loved kittens. I believe this love of all things feline was directly inherited from my grandmother (Ruth, my mom's mother and Ruth Ann's namesake) when she gave me my first kitten, Ernie, when I was Ruth Ann's age. Ernie only spent a short time in our home because as the story goes, I practiced a lot of rough love on poor Ernie. Per my mom's account, Ernie was thrown in bath tubs full of water and down stairs until he was given safe shelter at my grandma's house. We have 2 full grown cats at our house and Arch claims this is the limit...so I dream of the day I can take Ruth Ann to Pets Inc. (a local shelter) to pick out her first kitten.

My parents...I guess I should say my mom...decided to get 2 new kittens for their house a few months ago. At first I was heart broken that Ruth Ann cared very little for the new kittens...but after a few trips to Grammy's she has come around and now she LOVES them! Sometimes she loves them a little too much...I have a video I want to try to post later that shows just how much she loves them.

Until then, I only have a photographic evidence to show just how much Ruth Ann loves a little kitten...

I LOVE IT!!

Dare Devil

2011-07-06T21:54:00.000-04:00

Seeing Ruth Ann riding the tube for the first time at the lake this past weekend didn't reveal to me she was a dare devil...

It just confirmed it...

Chill

2011-07-06T11:41:00.000-04:00

The slang definition of "chill" is as follows...
~to calm down or relax
~to pass time idly
~to keep company

This picture should follow that definition in the dictionary...

Don't worry, Arch was just outside of the picture making sure Tripp-man didn't scoot out of the float. Tripp was not much of a fan of water activities at the beginning of the summer, but he's come around during our extra hot summer days!

And while Tripp floated, Ruth Ann got the bubble blower out. Grammy's bubble blowers only last one year on average...this one only last one day because just after this picture was taken a certain blond haired little girl dropped it in the pool...oops!

Do not adjust your screens...

2011-07-05T19:25:00.000-04:00

My children are in fact wearing garnet and black rather than Auburn orange and blue.

Tripp was confused too...poor fellow.

For those who don't follow college baseball and/or may have been living inside a cave for the last 2 weeks...the USC Gamecocks managed to win a 2nd NCAA Men's Baseball Championship...and since I'm a big believer in supporting the teams of the people I love...

...I whipped together these outfits on Thursday night for the parade to honor the Gamecocks.

If you've know anything about weather in the capital city you know it's usually the hottest spot in SC...and since it's also the home of the Gamecock's I thought this sign was pretty appropriate...

We braved the heat with some of our very favorite friends...

You may recognize 2 of these fine fellows from a previous picture...

I prefer the orange and blue...but I'm bias.

Anyway, we braved the heat...

To see the return of this trophy...

And I guess when you win back to back championships Under Armour buys you this...

Right now the McCarty family is a satisfied family in regards to collegiate sports...Auburn is the current football National Champs and USC has the best baseball team in the land!

6 months old

2011-07-02T09:53:00.001-04:00

If you've ever had a baby in your house you may agree with me when I say 6 months is my favorite age. When Tripp was first born time seemed to move so slowly for me. Having a newborn baby means long nights and for me that makes for even longer days. But once I started back to work and Tripp started sleeping well time has flown by and now suddenly my baby boy is 6 months old!

Here's what Tripp is up to lately...
~babbling, babbling babbling...he says a lot of "ba-ba-ba" and if you start it, he'll imitate you. He's also developed a very loud scream to show his immense displeasure...most often heard when you're out of baby food. He seems to have already learned that in a house with 2 other siblings you have to speak loudly in order to be heard.
~although he wasn't a big fan of cereal last month he has taken to baby food after a few weeks of very very messy meals. He's now had bananas, peaches, apples, peas, green beans, carrot, sweet potatoes and prunes. He loved his orange veggies from the start, but it took a while to warm up to the green ones. Now he eats one serving of baby food for lunch and 2 servings for dinner in addition to about 30 ounces of formula throughout the day.
~still rolling from back to tummy very well, but not rolling for tummy to back very well yet. Although he can go from tummy to back he hasn't figured out that rollng the other way will help when he gets angery after being on his tummy for too long...this can make nap time and very difficult few hours around our house. He still takes his best naps in the swing but at his current weight he really slows that poor swing down...I fear his days of napping in the swing may be numbered!
~my favorite accomplishment happened just last night...on what was actually his 6 mth b-day...Tripp didn't take to a pacie very quickly but I need for my children to take a pacie...it solves all the fussy problems, so I kept trying to give it to him. Finally he seems to like it, although not as much as Ruth Ann did. Anyway, for a few weeks he's been taking it out of his mouth and playing with it...Arch likes to believe he's working on his hand-eye coordination as he passes it from his left to right hand. Last night at dinner he took his pacie out of his mouth, played with it and then popped it back in! I'm not sure he knew what he was doing but I wanted to jump up on the table and dance! It's a big moment when they can do this for themselves...now I'll have no less than 10 pacies in his crib soon so he can get one for himself if he wakes up in the night in need of a little pacifying!

Tripp-man, I'm afraid you're starting to grow up way too fast for your momma's liking. I love you sweet boy and wish you could stay my snuggly little bug forever. But I'm also curious to see what kind of little boy you're going to become...just promise me you'll always have time to snuggle with your momma!

Who is this little girl??

2011-07-01T22:09:00.000-04:00

I was doing a pretty good job posting from our beach trip and then it all came to a halt...here's a continuation of our beach adventure...

When we went out to eat this little girl sat next to me...she claims to be Ruth Ann but I simply can't believe this little girl is my baby girl...

It breaks my heart that time is going so quickly...which makes Tripp baby years that much sweeter right now. I keep telling Ruth Ann she can't grow up because she has to stay my baby girl...but she argues back that she wants to grow up big. But every time I hold Tripp-man I whisper in his ear that he's going to stay my baby boy forever...I'll do my best to raise him to be a strong man and a great husband...but sorry future daughter-in-law, he's going to be my baby boy forever!

Anyway, once we finished dinner we made a little stop at the closest Eagles to pick up Ruth Ann's hermit crab...who you met on the previous post. Then we got to Page's house and were greeted by the neighborhood ducks...lots and lots of ducks! They started to head away from Page's house but Ruth Ann & I cut them off and herded them back to where Ruth Ann could feed them...Page got some good laughs in at the sight of me waving my arms at the momma duck and all her babies!

After Ruth Ann fed the ducks she did some of her very best duck impressions...

Then we got a good night's sleep, and the next morning watched Page get baptized. Page grew up Methodist so she was already a Believer, but she was joining a Baptist church, thus the baptism. Growing up Baptist there is something very special about seeing a good friend get baptized. I'm so glad we got to share this weekend with Page and her family & friends!

We had a delicious lunch and then headed back home...which Ruth Ann was not at all happy about. I have a feeling as she gets older she will be begging me on a pretty regular basis to take her to see Ms. Page!

Newest McCarty

2011-06-21T20:20:00.002-04:00

Growing up I had a friend who annually came home with a hermit crab from the beach...and I was jealous every single year of her newest pet. My mom had a pretty strict rule about pets not ever being in the rodent (no hamsters) and reptiles (no snakes) families...somewhere in there hermit crabs made it to her "Not a Pet" list and I was never a proud owner of a hermit crab.

Not to repeat the disappointment from my own childhood, I decided Ruth Ann would be leaving this beach trip with a hermit crab...meet Shelly...

Since his purchase he has relocated to a new, larger shell...we left the sun glass shell with Ms. Page as a reminder of our visit.

Here's Ruth Ann on her very first visit to Eagles...

And the proud new owner of a her first hermit crab in what she calls a "lunch box"...

I had assumed the hermit crab was a low maintenance pet...I was wrong. After doing a little google searching on care of our new pet I discovered he may live for 10-20 years! He may also need a bigger place to live, things to climb, places to burrow himself and perhaps a friend or 2...way more involved than I initially thought! I'm just hoping he makes it to the end of the summer and after talking with my friends/co-workers I hope to NEVER see him outside of his shell...apparently it's very disturbing!

Fun in the Sun!

2011-06-14T19:50:00.000-04:00

Finally, Saturday morning arrived and Ruth Ann was ready to hit the beach...at 6am. I managed to get her to fall back asleep and she woke up again at 9:30am. I knew it was going to be another long napless day so she needed a little more beauty rest before I was letting her out of the bed!

We ate a quick breakfast, loaded up and headed to the beach...

Much like last summer...Ruth Ann loved the beach. She headed straight to the water and would have stayed there all day had I let her.

I'm so happy to have a child who loves the beach this much...

And I never get tired of a sandy behind picture...

Believe me when I say by the end of the day there was MUCH more sand in her suit than on the outside!

Here is Ruth Ann doing her very best Baywatch run...

And then a belly flop into the waves...

We stayed on the beach from 10am to 4pm...Ruth Ann left with a nice start to a summer tan thanks to SPF 50...I got a little red, but that's just how I like to leave the beach. There were lots of smiles all day long...and this is one face I never get tired of seeing smile!

To the BEACH!!

2011-06-13T21:09:00.000-04:00

So after we spent lunch at the beach and ventured high in the sky over the Grand Strand in the Sky Wheel we headed to get a quick mani & pedi...this was mostly for Mommy & Ms. Page's benefit...but Ruth Ann got to join in too...

And to make this even better they didn't charge me for Ruth Ann...which was great since kid's don't keep their polish on for very long!

Then Ruth Ann & Ms. Page patiently waited for me to make my way through the outlets...Tripp ended up being the big winner with a few swim suits for our Disney vacation in November and a new swim suit for next summer too.

Since most of the day was gone by now we decided to eat dinner and then let Ruth Ann do a little playing on the beach afterwards. Ms. Page was nice enough to have a few toys waiting on her when she got there...

She played and played....

And dug and dug....

And then played while she dug....

And then in typical Ruth Ann fashion bossed everyone around in order to get all her bidding done....

At this point she had gone ALL day long without a nap and was running on fumes. We headed home for baths and bed time. She was so excited about getting back to the beach the next morning that she tried to get up at 6am...I wasn't going to let that happen...I knew we had another long day in store. Eventually she went back to sleep and slept until 9:30am...she obviously needed it and once more, Mommy knows best!

Lunch and the Sky Wheel

2011-06-13T08:00:00.001-04:00

When we arrived at the beach Page wanted to go eat down on the beach at Jimmy Buffet's newest restaurant...the man knows a good cheeseburger, so off we went...and the cheeseburger didn't disappoint!

After lunch Page wanted to show us the newest attraction on the Grand Strand...The Sky Wheel. Let me ask you other SC residents...have I been living with my head in a hole or has anyone else heard about this ferris wheel? According to Page it's been quite the buzz and had a line down the block when it opened 2 weeks ago.

It's quite impressive, but let me fill you in on a secret. We stood watching car after car go past us empty! When you're standing in the blazing sun with your 2 year old it leads you to question the people operating the ride...so we asked what the deal was. All the cars are never filled at once so they can maintain the correct balance...pretty interesting fact and made the steam pouring from my ears simmer down knowing they actually knew what they were doing.

I began to wonder if the wait was because they wanted to decide if Ruth Ann fit all the criteria to ride the Sky Wheel...I question this one...

Finally, our turn to board arrived...

And the views can't be beat!

But one thing is noticeably absent when your high on top of the Grand Strand...as a SC native...kinda, I was born in NC, but have lived in SC for 28 years...this makes me sad...

If you're from SC or have vacationed at Myrtle Beach prior to the 5 years ago then this probably makes you a little sad too...that big empty lot is where the Pavilion once stood. If you don't know what the Pavilion is or "was" I should say then you need to stop what you're doing right now and find the nearest copy of the movie Shag...you're promised to end up with "beach fever" but it gives you an idea of what life at the Pavilion was all about. The company who bought it had big plans for bringing in new attractions to the beach...but it seems they've run out of money and now an empty lot is all that is left of what was a fun...all be it cheesy...place to spend your afternoon at the beach. As a person who publicly admits I HATE CHANGE...this is proof positive that sometimes change isn't always a good thing.

Not to end the post on such a downer... the new board walk is really beautiful and if you're down on the coast this summer lunch on the beach and stroll down the boardwalk would be a fun way to spend the afternoon...this post is in no way affiliated with the Grand Strand Tourism Council...just my own opinion!

Girls Trip!

2011-06-12T17:53:00.001-04:00

Ruth Ann and I just got home from a fabulously fun weekend at the beach! I have tons of pictures to post and comments to add so look for several beach posts this week. Until then, here's a picture of Ruth Ann snacking in front of our family beach house...

We try to keep our family summer home a secret as to not make ourselves look like we're too "braggy"...yeah right! If this house belonged to any member of my family...once, twice, or 400 times removed...you would all know exactly where to find me ALL summer long!

Ruth Ann and I went to stay the weekend with my friend Page to be there for her baptism. Page lives less than 5 minutes from the beach and her momma lives across the street from the mammoth beach house you see in the background. We're lucky to have such generous friends who beg us to come have fun in the sun all summer. Ruth Ann woke up this morning and told me she wanted to stay at Page's house and then reminded me again as we were exiting the interstate to get to our house. I think as she gets older someone is going to be begging me to go to Ms. Page's house!

Family Lake Day

2011-06-09T21:32:00.005-04:00

After Tripp decided to join in our family love all things water related I agreed to take him out on the boat for a day on the lake. Arch had been asking for a weeks but since Tripp had been such a hand full on our previous trips to the pool there was no way I was going to be trapped on a boat in the middle of the lake with him. Since he had a good time at the pool the previous Friday I agreed that we could try it out...and it was a success!

2 other families joined us for our afternoon of boating...the Brown's went out with us...

After re-reading my blog post I noticed what may be the sweetest picture ever...

Any question this may be a Daddy's Girl??

Later the Clark's met up with us at our favorite hole...

I only managed to get a picture of Brantley and Roper but all 4 Clarks joined us.

Here's our first family picture in the lake...and now that I've typed that I think this may actually be our first family of 5 picture of any kind! One day I'll explain to Tripp why he was in a pink float...being the 2nd child he gets to use a lot of Ruth Ann's old things...but since he loved the lake I'll be buying him his own blue float before our next boat trip!

Well, actually, this was our very first picture, but a member of the Brown family joined in...we LOVE Jay Brown, so we would gladly add him to our family...but I think his family would miss him terribly!

If you're a long time follower of my blog you may remember this picture from 2 years ago. Arch's love of the lake may be equal to my love of the beach. We took our first trip to the beach with Ruth Ann when she was 5 months old. I won't lie, it was hard, but I had always dreamed of having a child who loved the beach too and would sleep on the beach next to my beach chair. Our first day on the beach was a disaster!

Allow me to present exhibit A:

This is when I discovered swim diapers are only absorbent when they are wet...this revelation was revealed to me after Ruth Ann cried for 30 minutes on the beach, then being loaded up and taken back to the beach house for me to discover tee-tee pooled up in her swim diaper...lesson learned! The next day however, my beach dream came true...

Now I share this stroll down memory lane to share Arch's dream of days on the lake with his baby asleep on the boat...dreams can come true to daddy's too...

He slept...

And slept...

While the rest of the McCarty kids played in the lake...

Arch was one happy daddy...but we were all exhausted and wishing it wasn't time to head home...but luckily there will be LOTS more summer days spent on the lake!

Thank goodness!

2011-06-09T21:30:00.001-04:00

It appears Tripp has decided to except his fate and finally enjoy some time floating in the pool...

Spending time in the water is a big part of our summer...between my mom's pool, the lake and the beach most of our weekends during the summer revolve around time spent in the water. The last few trips were made very difficult for me because Tripp had a serious aversion to water. Now that water temperatures have warmed up we have discovered it was cold water he hated...now that the water is warmer he seems to be right at home!

Oh, and one more thing...is it just me or is he not the cutest baby boy alive??

One man's trash...

2011-06-09T21:22:00.000-04:00

...is now Ruth Ann's treasure! So if you follow my blog you may remember Ruth Ann's previous motorized vehicle from earlier this Spring...

So sad...my mom told me last weekend she considered getting Ruth Ann and Tripp a brand new car for Easter, but I was glad she didn't. After looking at blogs and Facebook pictures from this past Easter I began to wonder when Easter became Christmas. Some of the gifts kids got from the Easter Bunny were what I may have gotten from Santa when I was growing up. Our Easter Bunny delivers candy and a stuffed animal...I would have looked like a huge fool had I ranted about this with friends only to turn around and have my children receive a sparkling new motorized car...anyway, back on point...

Last weekend Arch and Spencer went over to his mom's house to get his clothes for the week and spotted this jewel by the road waiting for trash pick-up. They both assured me it was intended for the trash man and not left accidentally by the side of the road by an irresponsible driver...let's hope they don't get busted for grand theft auto.

All it needed was a new battery and Arch had it purring like a kitten. Ruth Ann had a few accidents...

And a little trouble keeping it between the lines...

But give her a wide open yard and she was doing doughnuts for hours!

Looking out for Papaw

2011-06-04T20:05:00.000-04:00

If you've spent any amount of time around Ruth Ann and my mom then you know this little girl L-O-V-Es her Grammy...but she has a special place in her heart for her Papaw too (that's my dad to Ruth Ann). I had planned on having my kids call my dad "Grumpy"...and if you know my dad there is no explanation needed. But my dad's dad was Papaw to me & my cousins so it was important to him to have the same...so Papaw it is. Anyway, last year for Ruth Ann's birthday she got a doll house and a doll family from my parents. Although she doesn't play with it much right now,it is in her room and at times it catches her eye. This past week she's been very concerned about Papaw's comfort level in her doll house. She keeps taking him out, with the double bed, and I randomly find him through out the house like this...

When I found him this time she had perched his bed on top of one of the pillows from my bed...only the best for old Papaw. After seeing the current conditions of her doll house it's no wonder why Papaw needs a peaceful place to rest...

Apparently the whole family has moved themselves and all their belongings to the bathroom on the second floor to rent out the kitchen to Fluffy...perhaps it's due to rising gas prices...who knows, but Ruth Ann made sure Papaw had a quiet place to lay his head...night-night Papaw!

I've changed my mind

2011-06-03T09:23:00.003-04:00

Last weekend Arch finally had his summer dreams come true and he headed out to the lake with the boat. He's lucky to have a friends with ample room for other boats so he doesn't have to pull it back & forth on long weekends. So the boat stayed all weekend and when he returned on Sunday he took Ruth Ann out with him...that left me at home, alone, with this little guy...

I remember when Ruth Ann was this age and I thought I had my hands full...HA! I keep looking at him and thinking "Why did I ever think this age was hard??" Now I'll admit I'm lucky to have fairly easy babies...if children weren't so expensive to keep up I'd probably have one more, but I think it's best not to press my luck and end up with a terribly cranky baby...let's end on a great note! Ruth Ann was just as easy a baby as Tripp is now...clearly it's just that my perspective has changed. I enjoyed Ruth Ann at this age but I think I got to caught up in the idea of being a new mother and clearly I must of have felt overwhelmed...now with Tripp-man I'm enjoying how sweet and content he is all the time. He's a go-with-the-flow sort of guy and I love every single minute with him...and this time I realize how easy he can make my day while his 2 year old sister is running me ragged...which makes me love him all the more! I'll take a day alone with this baby boy any day!

5 Months Old

2011-06-02T16:36:00.000-04:00

All week long at work I kept saying I couldn't believe it was almost June...but what seems to be even more unbelievable is the fact that this baby boy is already 5 months old!

At 5 months, this is what Tripp-man is up to...
~Sleeping very well through the night...usually to bed around 8pm and sleeps to 7am on the dot. When 7am rolls around this boy is ready to EAT! Then he goes right back to sleep and takes 2 more short naps during the day
~Getting better at eating rice cereal...but what a mess! I've bought some stage 1 baby food that we'll start to introduce in the coming weeks. It felt kinda weird being back in the baby food section again...thankfully, the price of baby food seems to have stayed the same!
~He's now a baby in motion...and by motion I mean rolling...but only from back to tummy, so he doesn't get far...yet.
~Lots & Lots of babbling...I'm confident I have another talker on my hands.
~He's found his feet and he loves them...

During most of his waking hours he is trying to grab those little chubby feet. I've been thinking for a while that he is teething...evident by his fingers often being found in his mouth and he's a drooling machine...but so far no little teeth have popped through...yet.

Sidewalk chalk fun

2011-06-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

These pictures are a few weeks old, but too sweet not to post.

I have fallen in love with Buy Buy Baby. If you don't have one in your area please except my sympathy...it's owned by Bed, Bath & Beyond and is the most fabulous baby store on Earth! It has all the brands I wished for when Ruth Ann was a baby...which probably saved me lots of money since baby #2 doesn't get nearly as much as baby #1. On one of our trips through Baby Mecca I found the largest box of side walk chalk I had ever seen. Since we were on the heels of warm weather I bought it as a treat for Ruth Ann...it was a big hit...

My little lefty...maybe??

Hello Summer...we missed you!

2011-05-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

It's officially summer and the McCarty's couldn't be happier!

We are clearly water bugs and love to spend a hot South Carolina summer day lounging in the closest pool...

Just call me a pool whore...I don't care...if you have a pool, I'm there!

My friend Heidi took this picture and commented that Auralee had Christopher much higher in the air than I had thrown Ruth Ann...fyi: Ruth Ann weighs at least 5 pounds more than Christopher and I'm sure that even at 7 months pregnant, Auralee still has more upper body strength than me!

Parenting Fail

2011-05-30T19:39:00.000-04:00

This is Ruth Ann...

and I love her with all my heart...but this potty training business is just about to make me lose my mind! Overall, I would say parenting has been an incredibly humbling experience. I'll admit I was critical of poor parenting prior to becoming one myself and I must say, it looks easier when you're on the outside looking in. For me, potty training has become the most humbling experience of all.

After weeks of bribing, regularly scheduled potty breaks, pull-ups, big girl panties...you name it...as of last week, we were no more closer to being potty trained than when we started. I can't tell you how upsetting this is when you have a child with a seemingly limitless vocabulary not be able to tell you when she needs to go to the potty! I have a new found respect for any parent who has ever potty trained a child...it's a battle & my hat is off to those who have fought & successfully won this battle!

This weekend I reached by boiling point...a big part of our problem is that Ruth Ann wears real panties at our house and pull-ups or diapers at my in-laws house...a tactic which I plan on changing this week. During my time off this week I changed my strategy. I had been putting Ruth Ann in big girl panties and a t-shirt...no bottoms. She wasn't the least bit bothered by wetting her panties...but this week I made her wear shorts...and not just any shorts, jean shorts. This led to immediate discomfort when she wet her panties and then I made her stay in her wet clothes for a few minutes...big improvements started to be made. Then on Saturday morning she wet her pants, I made her go to the bathroom but she came out a few minutes later naked from the waist down. I cleaned her up, changed her clothes and literally 10 minutes later she wet her pants again. I was seeing RED! This was first time since potty trained where I felt like a serious scolding was needed. I scolded her and walked her back to the potty only to discover she had pooped in the potty on her own...for those who haven't potty trained a child...pooping is the Holy Grail of potty training! I felt terrible...here was my child in tears & me yelling when I discovered she had pooped on her own for the first time...GIANT parenting fail!

The good news...Ruth Ann has been dry all day as of 7:30pm. If this holds up until bath time she gets to open one of her new Barbies! Please Lord, let this be the light at the end of the potty training tunnel!

Last day

2011-05-29T18:52:00.000-04:00

For weeks I've dreaded this day coming...the last day of school. Not because I don't want Ruth Ann home with me more...I'm actually looking forward to not having to be anywhere on Thursday mornings. No the dread I felt came from knowing there was a change on my horizon. I don't handle change well, never have and since I'm 32 years old now & I still hate change then it's pretty safe to say I'll always hate change. I have loved the church pre-school Ruth Ann has been in for the last year. It's the same church pre-school my brother went to and most of my friends have their kids there too. But due to the location of our house, my in-laws house and our places of employeement...it just wasn't going to be possible for Ruth Ann to stay at this school next year. She's going to a great school next year and I know she'll meet lots of friends and have sweet teachers just like this year...but it's change and did I mention I hate change?

Here's Ruth Ann on her first day of school in August...

And then on her last day...

Is anyone else looking at these pictures through teary eyes...or is that just me...and maybe my mom too?

More evidence of change...which I hate...I just can't believe how much she has changed in one year. I keep hoping she's going to stop growing up so fast but apparently that's not going to happen.

Here is Ruth Ann with her sweet teachers...

So many days Ruth Ann would come home smelling like their perfume. I knew that was because she had been sitting in their laps or they had been giving her hugs during the time she was with them and it warms my heart to know that during the few short hours she was with them once a week they were loving my daughter. I don't know who had a harder time saying goodbye to them...me or Ruth Ann...who am I kidding...it was me. I had to hurry out because I was on the verge of tears...see, this is what change does to me...I melt into a pool of tears. My worry now is that if this is how I handled the end of Ruth Ann's first year of school...how will I handle 17 more years of this?

Stylin' & Profilin'

2011-05-23T10:43:00.001-04:00

About 2 months I started planning Tripp's 3 month photo session with our favorite photographer, Heidi Graves. I'm making an effort not to turn every photo session for Tripp into a photo session for Ruth Ann...but that's nearly impossible for this momma who LOVES having pictures taken. I don't want Tripp to look back one day and realized every picture I have of him has his sister in the picture too. However, Tripp's 3 month pictures needed to be taken around Easter and that meant bunny pictures for both kids. Thanks to a very rainy month our pictures were postponed until Tripp was actually 4 months old...oh well, so goes the life of the youngest child.

(Let me first say the statement I'm getting ready to make is very shallow and if this is the worst of my problems then life is pretty good.) In past I've been unhappy with Ruth Ann's hair in the pictures I've had made...see, I told you, shallow. Overall Ruth Ann has pretty good hair, but the longer it gets the stringier it seems to look to me...I'm itching to cut it off but the majority of my friends think it looks cute longer, so we're trying out a longer style...for now. I still think her hair looks cute cut off in a chin length bob but long hair is what I have to work with now. In an attempt to make her hair look fuller and less stringy I broke out my old velcro curlers...it seems too "Toddlers & Tiaras" for me to apply hot rollers to my 2 year olds hair!

I found her hair to look much better this time and plan on trying the same thing out the next time we have pictures planned. I hope the velcro rollers will continue to work for us...otherwise I may just be a hot roller away from being a stage mom from "Toddlers & Tiaras"...and I'm afraid that looks to be a very slippery slope friends! I give you all permission to intervene when I start talking about having Ruth Ann fit for a flipper!

Back to the pool

2011-05-18T16:31:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I ventured back out to my mom's pool with both children. My mom assured me the water temperature had warmed up during the week and she felt sure I would be able to enjoy the pool this time. The bottom half of my body was all I managed to submerge...the top half felt it was still a little too cold and each time I tried to get a little farther down in the water I started to freeze...so I'll be taking baby steps in trying to enjoy the pool fully.

I did think it was time Tripp-man take a dip in the pool...he disagreed, but I was able to get this picture during the few minutes he wasn't screaming his head off...

As always Ruth Ann loved spending the day at Grammy's house. When I asked her on the way home what her favorite part of the day was she replied simply..."Grammy was my favorite." She's so sweet...sometimes!

After being tortured by his momma, Tripp went inside for a nice long nap. When he woke up he ate his usual 7 oz bottle and then lounged by the pool for a little bit before we packed up and headed home...

He seemed much happier to be poolside rather than in the pool. I feel confident he'll like the pool much more when the pool temperatures feel more like bath water and less like ice water!

Mother's Day...one week later

2011-05-16T11:21:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we had a belated Mother's Day dinner with Arch's parents and his brother's family. Many of you know how fortunate I am to have in-laws who very graciously keep my children during the day while I'm at work. Because of their willingness I'm able to work part-time allowing me to be home with my kids 2 out of 5 weekdays every week...which I value and highly recommend to anyone who can swing it...I'm not sure I'll ever be able to work 5 full days...in a row...ever again! To say I'm grateful to have in laws who want to have such an active role in their grand children's life is a huge understatement!

Here is my mother-in-law with all her grandchildren...looking at this group together only confirms what I already believed...don't you think they all look similar...even though I still like to believe Tripp resembles me & my family, I think McCarty genes are very, very strong!

How rednecks bathe their babies...

2011-05-14T22:07:00.001-04:00

Tonight we had Arch's family over for a be-lated Mother's Day dinner. As I was getting ready Arch came in the bathroom and asked me to come get Ruth Ann whenever I finished getting ready. She had been outside with her daddy & brother and usually after about 45 minutes outside with Ruth Ann...Arch is ready for a break...but that wasn't why he wanted me to come outside...

This is how I found Ruth Ann, in our driveway, in the broad day light...

If you know Arch well then you know he's never too far from a cooler...he usually has it in the trunk of the car or the back of his truck. This cooler has held cold adult beverages, vast quantities of ice, dead fish...and now our daughter...

Arch claims it was her idea...but I have video evidence from an eye witness that reports quite the opposite...however, the testimony is from a 2 1/2 year old...I'll post it tomorrow!

I only included this picture because I was amazed I was able to get a 2 year old, a dog and Arch to all have their eyes on the camera!

Pool party Part 2

2011-05-09T10:30:00.000-04:00

So to my surprise Ruth Ann, Ada and Grammy all ended up in the pool on Saturday. Then at lunch on Sunday my mom said they were planning on getting back in the pool that afternoon. This time I left Tripp-man at home with Daddy and Ruth Ann and I spent the afternoon at Grammy's house.

You can see Ruth Ann was still not the least bit bothered by the cool water temperature...

Ada, always putting safety first, floated around the pool...nothing was going to take her down...especially when using 3 different floatation devices...

Grammy spent a lot of her time in the pool getting the unwelcome guests out of the pool...

Then once the girls had all they could take of the cold water, they headed into a nice warm outside shower. I don't know what it is about my family...they ALL love outside showers. When Arch and I were still dating he and Spencer would join my family on our annual beach vacations. The house we use to stay in had a fantastic outdoor shower and from that moment forward Arch dreamed of installing an outdoor shower of his own...and 2 years ago he made that dream a reality. Once the weather warms up I'm the only one who showers indoors...everyone else enjoys and outside shower...and apparently this love of outdoor bathing is genetic...

Could Ruth Ann be any more excited to be in the shower...and this shower lasted for about 20 minutes...I'm surprised my parents had any hot water left after these two got done!

Sliding

2011-05-08T09:56:00.000-04:00

When my mom decided to put her pool in she added all the bells and whistles...including a slide! Ruth Ann fell in love with the slide late last summer and then spent about an hour going up and sliding down the slide at our Disney resort at Halloween. I can tell this summer those little legs will ge a work out going up and down the steps to slide down Grammy's slide. Here are the first slides of Summer 2011...

Thank goodness

2011-05-07T22:24:00.001-04:00

All I can say is thank goodness my computer is smarter than me...I found the video files I thought I had deleted in my Trash file...so after a little editing...here is proof as to just how cold it was at Grammy's pool today...

After compiling all the videos I had 30+ minutes of footage that only members of my family would enjoy...these was just one of the funny moments!

Not how I thought our day would go

2011-05-07T21:34:00.003-04:00

Last week my mom called and told me Toni and Ada would be coming to town today. They were also bringing a very special delivery...2 kittens! I have a deep, deep love for all things feline and I may love holding a kitten more than I love holding a newborn baby. We packed up our gear because even though my parents and I share a zip code...we live on opposite sides of this zip code and it's about a 20 minute drive...without traffic...out to their house. We got there seconds before Toni and Ada, so our timing was pretty perfect. Unfortunately the kittens were not as big a hit with Ruth Ann...her father will be happy to hear this since it's my dream to take her to Pets Inc. to pick out her own kitty and it's his worst nightmare! But Grammy had some planting to do and she loves to have Ruth Ann and Ada help. So I changed Ruth Ann into her play clothes...but it wasn't long before those two ended up in ~~their pool~~ Grammy's pool.

What started out as instructions to "stand" on the first step...

Turned into sitting on the first step before we knew it...

Who, other than the child's own mother, didn't see this coming??

Since I had not planned on today being Opening Day at Grammy's pool I didn't have a swim suit or swim diapers with me...but a Grammy with a swimming pool is aways prepared...

Well 50% prepared...she had a swim suit, but now swim diapers. Ruth Ann had already done her major business of the day just before she went outside but I'm pretty sure she most likely tee-teed while she was in the water...but who are any of us to throw stones...we've all done it!

And because Grammy probably loves these two girls more than anyone else in the entire world she put on her suit and joined in...obviously she loves them more than their own mothers because Toni and I sat pool side and watched Grammy entertain them in the water...I was freezing just watching them...

And who wouldn't be freezing when this is the water temperature...

10 more degrees and I may consider getting in!

But clearly these two don't care and they played in the pool for about 2 hours!

It may look like Ruth Ann and her Grammy are having a sweet conversation, but I recognize that little bossy finger...she's obviously telling Grammy which way to pull her on the float!

Eventually Ruth Ann began to border on hypothermia...if you can't tell by the color of her lips in this picture...

Then have a look here...

I had a funny video of her shivering and talking to my dad...but because I'm borderline computer illiterate when it comes to my video camera I have accidentally deleted all the videos I took today! Trust, she was cold and it was funny! My mom has been talking about putting in a hot tub and until today I wasn't on board...but I could have been talked into a nice relaxing dip in the hot tub this Mother's Day weekend!

We had a fun day spending time with some of our favorite mother's today...I hope they had fun too and I hope everyone, mother's, mother's to be or mother's in waiting are enjoying their Mother's Day weekend too!